Year : 2021 (Japan Edition)
Style : Melodic Power Metal
Country : Brazil
Audio : 320 kbps + all scans
Size : 135 mb
Bio:
Eduardo "Edu" Falaschi (born May 18, 1972) is a Brazilian singer best known for his work as lead singer and songwriter with the São Paulo-based band Angra. He is also noted for his solo band Almah, which started as a side project featuring a number of guest musicians and is now his main and only band.When he was one year old, Falaschi's parents moved to Rio de Janeiro, where he lived until the age of 12. His mother decided to move back to São Paulo, and then São Vicente, influenced by factors including the death of Falaschi's father.Falaschi's first experience with music began as a child. Some of his relatives were non-professional musicians, and he used to sing with his father and uncles during family meetings. By the time he was 14 years old, he was taking guitar lessons, and his interest in music increased. Although he was strongly influenced by the singers Ronnie James Dio and Bruce Dickinson, Falaschi decided to play instrumental songs instead.He played the drums for six months in a blues band with his friends, and he also played bass and guitar and sang backing vocals in a cover band. In 1989, he was invited by school friends to join a band as a singer to play at a music contest. They recorded a demo tape and played for 5,000 people. Subsequently, in 1990, some of the band members decided to form Mitrium, a rock band, in which they played their own compositions.Mitrium began Falaschi's professional career as vocalist and composer. In 1991, they recorded their first demo tape with the song "Just Remember". Afterwards, they recorded the second demo with the songs "The Shadows" and "You Can Choose The Side of Darkness", both written by Eduardo Falaschi.The band grew quickly in São Vicente, so they decided to look for opportunities in São Paulo, where they signed a record deal with a record company which released a split-LP called Eyes of Time with four tracks: "Eyes of Time", "Run From the Fire", "Lives So Close" and "The Shadows", all of them written by Falaschi.In 1994, the heavy metal band Iron Maiden was looking for a new singer through an international contest sponsored by the band, resulting in thousands of tapes being sent in by would-be rock stars. With the increasing recognition of Mitrium, Falaschi had the chance of taking part in the contest. Unexpectedly, he was one of the selected singers from Brazil (along with Andre Matos, then vocalist of Angra) and later from all around the world, getting in contact with Dick Bell, production director of Iron Maiden Holding LTD. In the end, the band did not pick Falaschi.In spite of the professional career success, on August 5, 1994 Falaschi was forced to leave Mitrium due to personal problems, but he kept playing just for fun with his friends, and later recorded a demo, with eight simple rock n' roll songs with a band called Opium.Falaschi decided to take a break for almost four years. In the middle of 1998, he was invited by the band Symbols to produce their first album. The leader of the band was Tito Falaschi, his brother. Falaschi ended up producing the album and also being a member of the band. While their first album self-titled Symbols was being released, he was invited to perform in the album Ordinary Existence by Venus. In 2000, Symbols released their second album, called Call to the End.The Brazilian band Angra was looking for new members, and after a trial among other vocalists, Falaschi was invited to join the band in 2001. As in 2012, Edu left the band due to problems within it.In 2006, under the project name Almah, he released his first solo album, self-titled. In 2008, as a full band, Almah released their second album, Fragile Equality.
Album:
Vera Cruz, Edu Falaschi's first solo album, was sold as a new classic of Brazilian metal, which generated a very high level of expectation. With its release, the question is inevitable: does the album deliver what it promised? The answer is not simple.For those who are power metal fans, Vera Cruz will sound like a perfect work. Together with a phenomenal band formed by the guitarists Roberto Barros and Diogo Mafra, the bassist Raphael Dafras, the keyboardist Fábio Laguna and the drummer Aquiles Priester, Falaschi delivers an extremely technical album, with an epic and grand sonority that revisits and gets inspired in his thirty years of career, reaching a result that will please in full who follows the vocalist's trajectory.Musically, we can notice a clear inspiration in the already classic Temple of Shadows, Edu and Achilles' second album with Angra, released in September 2004. The instruments timbres and the songs structure itself bring to mind an album from almost two decades ago, but this does not compromise the final result. Another point is that the Temple of Shadows approach is intensified in Vera Cruz, with emphasis on the technical part, which explores in depth the virtuosity of the musicians. This aspect brings the album closer to the Dragonforce universe, as if Edu Falaschi's new work were the fruit of the union between Angra and the English band led by the guitarist Herman Li. What you hear is a kind of extreme power metal, with all the characteristics of the style properly accentuated. For this reason, who is not a fan of this kind of music will probably not like Vera Cruz, since its sonority does not make concessions and, as already said, dives deeply into the technical side, which can be understood as exaggerated and unnecessary "frying" by the public.On the conceptual side, the record explores the discovery of Ilha de Vera Cruz by the Portuguese in 1500. This area comprised part of the north-east coast of Brazil, the location of Monte Pascoal, the first piece of land in the New World sighted by the Portuguese and reported in the historic letter written by Pero Vaz de Caminha and sent to the Portuguese crown. The Ilha de Vera Cruz ended up evolving and having more areas discovered, revealing itself to be a gigantic portion of land that would be baptised as Brazil. The concept of the lyrics was created by Edu Falaschi and developed by Fabio Caldeira, vocalist of Maestrick. The album was produced by Thiago Bianchi (Noturnall, ex-Shaman) and mixed by Dennis Ward (who worked with Angra on the trinity Rebirth, Temple of Shadows and Aurora Consurgens, as well as countless other names like Voodoo Circle, Unisonic and Tribuzy).Vera Cruz opens with the intro "Burden", which features narration and sound effects introducing the story. "The Ancestry" comes in next and is the fastest song on the album, and in this song the approach of the guitars even bothers a little, as the two guitarists deliver very fast solos throughout the track. But this sensation is minimized by Edu Falaschi's ability to create vocal melodies and melodic bridges, a skill that has always been clear in all his career and that here softens a little the sensation of "frying" and leads to a strong chorus that should be sung at full lungs by the audience in future concerts. Despite the excesses of the guitarist duo, "The Ancestry" is undeniably an excellent opener for the album.The pure power metal comes out in "Sea of Uncertainties", where again Falaschi shows his talent to create compositions with strong hooks that stay in the listener's mind since the first hearing. The central part features breathtaking instrumental sections, as well as solos that manage to balance melody and speed better. "Skies in Your Eyes" is the first ballad of the album and brings the singer treading a path where he has always done well, see past examples such as "Heroes of Sand", "Wishing Hell", "Bleeding Heart" and "Breaking Ties". And here it is no different, with Falaschi showing how much he knows how to compose songs that please the ear and have all the requirements to become hits.Speed returns to the order of the day in "Crosses", which is preceded by the epic intro "Frol de la Mar". With their foot down, the band shines on one of the best tracks on Vera Cruz. Extreme power metal with exquisite instrumental and a beautiful performance by Edu. The only point that bothered me a little is that Achilles' drums, always creative, here sounded more conventional than usual, maybe because of the hyperactive rhythm that ends up making turns and experimentations impossible.Great Master close the cycle dedicated to strictly pirate themes, started with the previous "Skull And Bones", with this new chapter entitled "Thy Harbour Inn". This is a very special album, as it focuses on the revival of traditional songs, seafaring ballads and acoustic songs, and for this reason it is definitely successful thanks to its peculiarity.The band have allowed themselves a tasty interlude in their career, in which in addition to softer sounds, interspersed with heavy pieces, we also find alternative versions of previous hits. The first comparison that comes to mind for such an experiment, for example, is what Elvenking did with "Two Tragedy Poets (...And A Caravan Of Weird Figures)", just to stay in folk territories and a fellow country band.The strong point of the release, as anticipated, are the songs recovered and readapted from tradition, in some cases really old. The 18th century shanty "Randy Dandy Oh" is effectively transposed into a power/folk sauce, the tavern song "All For Me Grog" retains all its irreverent cheerfulness, while with the sweet Irish ballad "Here's A Health To The Company" there is even time to be moved.Then it's back to the beat with "Leave Her Johnny" and for most of the medley of "The Shantyman's Rundown". They then revisit "Skull And Bones", the title-track of their previous album, in an acoustic key, and they also re-propose "Long John Silver" in a Radio Edit version from the same full-length.Before closing, there is also room for a reinterpretation of "Treasure Island", a famous Running Wild hit. Congratulations to Great Master for having released this original work: genuine and enjoyable, like a good drink in a tavern on the pier!
Line Up:
Edu Falaschi - Vocals, Guitars, Keyboards (2006-present) See also: Almah, Stardust Reverie, ex-Mitrium, ex-Venus, ex-Angra, ex-Symbols
Roberto Barros - Guitar
Diogo Mafra - Guitar
Raphael Dafras - Bass (Almah)
Aquiles Priester - Drums (WASP/Primal Fear/Angra/Hangar)
Fabio Laguna - Keyboards (Angra/Hangar)
Tracklist:
01. Burden 02:01
02. The Ancestry 05:50
03. Sea of Uncertainties 04:54
04. Skies in Your Eyes 04:25
05. Frol de la Mar 00:58
06. Crosses 04:40
07. Land Ahoy 09:40
08. Fire with Fire 06:39
09. Mirror of Delusion 05:28
10. Bonfire of the Vanities 03:29
11. Face of the Storm 07:30
12. Rainha do Luar 04:06
13. Skies in Your Eyes (Acoustic version) 04:21 (Bonus Track)
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