Customer Reviews

Hunters & Prey

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The new version of Angra, featuring Edu Falaschi, decided to capatalize on the momentum of their triumphant rebirth with the 2002 release of the "Hunters and Prey" mini-album. This features 4 new songs, 2 acoustic "Rebirth" songs, a Genesis cover and a Portuguese version of one of the new songs.

The 4 new songs are all excellent and up to the sky-high quality of the "Rebirth" album. These songs have a similar sound and style to "Rebirth" as well, and complement the album very well. "Live And Learn" opens the mini-album with fast riffs and memorable guitar solos. Kiko and Rafael are two of metal's most talented guitarists, and their chops are in display all over this mini-album.

The next song is the absolutely stunning ballad "Bleeding Heart". This sounds like something that could easily be all over radio, only much better (and we all know radio wouldn't touch something this good). Edu Falaschi puts in a very emotional vocal performance, and the lyrics are poetry. This has one of those choruses that just lifts your soul to new heights and stays in your head all day.

The title track, "Hunters and Prey" follows. This seems to be a rather "happy" song with a lot of Brazilian flavor. There's plenty of Brazilian percussion that really adds to the beauty of the song. The song is very lush with extremely catchy melodies by singer Edu. The guitar soloing is technically dazzling and fits within the song perfectly. This is the highlight of this mini-album and among my favorite Angra songs.

The final new song is "Eyes of Christ". This is a mid-tempo track featuring some fine basswork during the verses. Edu has a bit more edge in his voice on this song.

The next two tracks are acoustic versions of "Rebirth" and "Heroes of Sand" from the "Rebirth" album. These versions are ok, but are truncated from the originals. They are pleasant and feature re-done vocal parts by Edu, but I think they could have done more with these. I also don't like the fact that these are about half as long as the original versions.

Then follows a suprise... a cover of the Genesis song "Mama"! This is one of the best cover songs I have ever heard, I was totally suprised at the quality of this song. It has very sparse instrumentation that swells to a powerful cresendo towards the end. The real highlight of this song is Edu Falaschi's vocal performance. He sounds utterly amazing and totally convincing. He really vamps all over the place on this song. Stunning.

"Caca E Cacador" is a Portuguese version of "Hunters and Prey".

There are some multimedia elements on this disc as well. A video of "Rebirth", which I was actually disappointed in, because it is the shortened version of "Rebirth", cutting out the great solos. The picture galleries are entertaining though.

This is a great item to satisfy the appetite for the rabid Angra fan!

An excelent choice for thats who wants real music, dont lost your self too much into the tons of alt. rock an nu metal that the radio ant TV show and alway sound the same, thats ok but Angra is a diferent and strong/melodic rock music that you must have,just wonderfull, I love all their albums... (sorry about my english)

This is Angra's first release after Rebirth and second after the line-up change. To make a long story short, it is well worth buying, not only for two very pleasant accoustic versions of Rebirth and Heroes Of Sand (two of the best songs on Rebirth), but also for the formidable new tracks: Hunters And Prey, Live And Learn, Bleeding Heart and Eyes fo Christ.

And it doens't stop there. You can listen to Angra doing a cover of Phil Colins' success: Mama.

Not yet satisfied? Well, this album is unique among all other Angra albums in that it brings to you the opportunity to listen to Angra singing in portuguese, their mother tongue since they came from Brazil. It is a version of the very good Hunters And Prey (Caça e Caçador in portuguese).

This Album is a must for any Angra fan. Full of surprises and with the quality you would expect on any release from these talented brazilian musicians.

Angra does a great job in remixing their songs and giving us some new things to taste as well. The new song in portuguse is a very nice touch... and the multimedia stuff on the cd is very nice too... overall VERY good and worth the price! Buy it if you like remixes and a small taste of a few new songs.

The new version of Angra, featuring Edu Falaschi, decided to capatalize on the momentum of their triumphant rebirth with the 2002 release of the "Hunters and Prey" mini-album. This features 4 new songs, 2 acoustic "Rebirth" songs, a Genesis cover and a Portuguese version of one of the new songs.

The 4 new songs are all excellent and up to the sky-high quality of the "Rebirth" album. These songs have a similar sound and style to "Rebirth" as well, and complement the album very well. "Live And Learn" opens the mini-album with fast riffs and memorable guitar solos. Kiko and Rafael are two of metal's most talented guitarists, and their chops are in display all over this mini-album.

The next song is the absolutely stunning ballad "Bleeding Heart". This sounds like something that could easily be all over radio, only much better (and we all know radio wouldn't touch something this good). Edu Falaschi puts in a very emotional vocal performance, and the lyrics are poetry. This has one of those choruses that just lifts your soul to new heights and stays in your head all day.

The title track, "Hunters and Prey" follows. This seems to be a rather "happy" song with a lot of Brazilian flavor. There's plenty of Brazilian percussion that really adds to the beauty of the song. The song is very lush with extremely catchy melodies by singer Edu. The guitar soloing is technically dazzling and fits within the song perfectly. This is the highlight of this mini-album and among my favorite Angra songs.

The final new song is "Eyes of Christ". This is a mid-tempo track featuring some fine basswork during the verses. Edu has a bit more edge in his voice on this song.

The next two tracks are acoustic versions of "Rebirth" and "Heroes of Sand" from the "Rebirth" album. These versions are ok, but are truncated from the originals. They are pleasant and feature re-done vocal parts by Edu, but I think they could have done more with these. I also don't like the fact that these are about half as long as the original versions.

Then follows a suprise... a cover of the Genesis song "Mama"! This is one of the best cover songs I have ever heard, I was totally suprised at the quality of this song. It has very sparse instrumentation that swells to a powerful cresendo towards the end. The real highlight of this song is Edu Falaschi's vocal performance. He sounds utterly amazing and totally convincing. He really vamps all over the place on this song. Stunning.

"Caca E Cacador" is a Portuguese version of "Hunters and Prey".

There are some multimedia elements on this disc as well. A video of "Rebirth", which I was actually disappointed in, because it is the shortened version of "Rebirth", cutting out the great solos. The picture galleries are entertaining though.

This is a great item to satisfy the appetite for the rabid Angra fan!

OK - just a quick little word about this sprightly EP released by Angra in 2003 to ...well... to tell the truth Angra just puts out EP's to keep their release roster ticking over (I mean, take a look at their discography). But when the results are this nice it's churlish to complain.

The EP comprises 8 tracks in total. There are four new songs, two acoustic versions of songs from the previous years Rebirth album, a Genesis cover and a Portuguese language version of Hunters & Prey (Caca E Cacador).

In a nutshell the four new songs all sound like the Rebirth album and that's a good thing. I don't know if they were completed in the same writing sessions or finished off after the album was done or what, but whatever the band were drinking while writing the Rebirth album they were still quaffing when penning these numbers. Listening to a few samples will probably have the average Angra fan sold. I was.

The couple of acoustic numbers are fun for fans, they allow Edu Falaschi to emote a touch more into the tunes IMHO and he is a frontman of some charisma so this is a plus. And for someone who speaks English and only English hearing a tune sung in a different language always carries with it a bit of a novelty factor and you'd have to assume that Portuguese speaking fans would lap up Caca E Cacador.

The real surprise to me was the Genesis cover. Not that Angra haven't been known to take some interesting turns when selecting covers but I'd not even heard the original for so long there was a real sense of fun to hear Falaschi getting into the ol' groan/heave nature of some of the vocal novelties in this number.

For fans this is a very good buy. Newcomers would probably be better off getting one of the full length studio albums to start off with, then scoring the other LP's if you end up becoming a fan, finally rounding out your Angra collection by picking up their EP's.

Oh and you score a video for the song Rebirth as well.

Angra's 2002 Hunters and Prey EP reminds me a lot of their Freedom Call EP. Both were released just after career-defining albums (Rebirth and Holy Land, respectively), feature a cover song, and include acoustic versions of Angra songs, and both are absolutely worth owning.

The first four tracks on Hunters and Prey are new songs, and all have the same feel as the band's powerhouse album Rebirth. I loved Rebirth from the very start, and these songs are just as strong as anything you'd find on that album. The songs "Live and Learn" and "Eyes of Christ" are powerful rockers, "Bleeding Heart" is a ballad, and the title track is an upbeat rock song with a strong Brazilian flair.

Next are two acoustic versions of songs from Rebirth - "Heroes of Sand" and the title track. These are interesting enough versions of the songs, but they tend to slow down the pace of this EP a bit too much.

Also included is a cover of the Phil Collins-era Genesis tune "Mama". This one is all about vocalist Edu Falaschi, who gives a powerful emotional rendition of the song.

Closing out the EP is "Caca e Cacador", the Portuguese language version of "Hunters and Prey". This version obviously strengthens the Brazilian feel of the song, and further reinforces the fact that Angra is not just your average prog/power metal band.

There are plenty of reasons to buy this EP. It's definitely a must-have EP for fans of the Rebirth-era Angra lineup, but older Angra fans will also find plenty to enjoy here, as will most fans of the progressive and/or power metal genres.