Released by: Scarlet Records
Release Date: November 25th, 2013
Genre: Classical/Power Metal
Links: http://www.almah.com.br/
Line Up:
Edu Falaschi – vocals
Marcelo Barbosa – guitars
Gustavo Di Padua – guitars
Raphael Dafras – bass
Marcelo Moreira – drums
Tracklist:
In My Sleep
Beware The Stroke
The Hostage
Warm Wind
Raise The Sun
Cannibals In Suits
Wings Of Revolution
Believer
I Do
You Gotta Stand
Treasure Of The Gods
Farewell
Almah is a band of famous Brazilian singer Edu Falaschi. The former Angra frontman created his own project 7 years ago to release different ideas through he’s music. Since Almah recorded several successful works. A couple years Edu and Angra split ways and Falaschi could concentrate on Almah on a full time basis. “Unfold” is the first Almah album after Edu’s departure from Angra and it will be released 25th of November 2013 by Scarlet Records.
Edu did not only perform vocals but also played some guitar and keyboard parts. His voice is flexible and high-ranging, though he prefers to sing lower than he did in Angra. However the music of Almah still has a lot of commonalities with Angra, it is Melodic Power Progressive Metal but with less symphonic elements and a bit heavier.
The new album is slightly different from previous band’s works. Power Metal moments are downed, the tempo is not so fast but Progressive influences are extended. So the music becomes more variable and complicated, almost every song contains a lot of rhythmical changes, including several interesting solos and many different melodies.
The last work “Motion” (2011) was heavier and more aggressive, sometimes with Groove and Thrash Metal elements. “Unfold” has some groove moments (most notable in “The Hostage”) but generally the music here is less angry.
There are only 3 real up-tempo tracks (and they are the best): the opener “In My Sleep” which is typical Angra-oriented Progressive Power Metal with some Brazilian rhythms, it is rather good but not outstanding. “Cannibals in Suits”, despite of slow and very heavy aggressive riffs in the beginning it becomes thrashier and faster with melodic chorus, sudden orchestral break and amazing guitar solo. The third is “Believer” – speedy melodic Power Metal, the chorus is in Edguy/Avantasia vein. It has constant rhythmical changes during song an the long shreddy guitar solo is really awesome. This is the best song here without any doubts.
I could also highlight epic “Treasure of the Gods”. It starts with slow acoustic intro and after 1.5 minute turns into excellent Progressive Metal with complicated rhythmical parts, some faster moments, jazzy improvisations, slow melodic piano and guitar parts and many technical solos. It is a very good example of quality Prog.
“Wings of Revolution” is another good song. It is very melodic with constant backing “a-a-ahs” and pleasant solo.
Unfortunately other songs are not so impressive to me. Some of them sound unexpectedly for Almah: “You Gotta Stand” is closer to commercial Hard Rock, I don’t like this kind of music, fortunately there are some prog moments and nice harmonic solo. “Raise the Sun“ has Gothic influences due to distinctive bright piano parts. However it is just not bad to my mind.
“Beware the Stroke” is an average number, just Melodic Prog Metal without any interesting moments. Slightly better is “I Do” which contains many complex musical themes and prog guitar exercises. Two ballads are not bad: “Warm Wind” is traditional half-acoustic ballad, very Angra in style, and it has some impressive moments. “Farewell” is tragic and atmospheric with some Pink Floyd influences. However I personally prefer faster tracks. I could only mark prog moments in groovy “The Hostage” but the main theme is rather weak to me.
So “Unfold” features a mix bag of tunes in my opinion. It contains some very good songs but it has some unfortunate mediocre tracks as well. Excellent Progressive Metal moments, nice melodies and awesome guitars solos are neutralized by domination of boring slow and mid-tempo music. I expected more Power Metal tracks from Almah and prefer “Motion” to “Unfold”. Nevertheless it is not a failure and fans of Edu Falaschi, Angra and Progressive Metal could easily enjoy this release.
Written by Egor “EG Power”
Ratings Egor 7/10
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