ANGRA — Temple of Shadows (review)

ANGRA — Temple of Shadows album cover Album · 2004 · Progressive Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
Stephen
"Temple of Shadows" is the second studio album with singer Eduardo Falaschi after Angra's major line up reformation in 2001 and introduces a concept story told by guitarist Rafael Bittencourt about a crusader in the 11th century spreading a new belief against the traditional Catholic Church. This album was certified gold in Japan and in their hometown, Brazil, and for a non-mainstream album, that’s a pretty big achievement. Their musical style is still symphonic power metal with some progressive element but this time, they enriched the music with many ethnical instruments. For those who love concept albums such as Dream Theater's "Scenes From A Memory" or Queensryche's "Operation Mindcrime" will find this instantly entertaining, but for me, aside from an interesting story, the music is what's crucial.

I won't break this album down track by track, but let me start with the strong offering on the album. "Spread Your Fire", a pompous symphonic power metal with the glorious chant at the Chorus is awesome. Angra is smart enough to put this up at the beginning of the album to pump up the mood. This track was defeated by the sixth track, "Temple of Hate", with a stunning shred intro and tightly constructed with a superb Verse and Chorus. Bittencourt's guitarworks is the highlight of the song and this is the greatest song of the whole record. The acoustical folk power ballad of "Wishing Well" is also tremendous and the amazing combo of jazz and ethnic at "Sprouts of Time" is undeniably great. Some decent prog/power style of "Angels And Demons" and "Waiting Silence" still worth to listen but several tracks such as "Morning Star" and "Late Redemption" are totally passable. "Shadow Hunter" did have a unique gloomy Flamenco intro and promising start, but somehow the whole composition turned out weak and became my least pick of the album.

In my opinion, "Temple of Shadows" lacks of songwriting consistency where almost half of the album is weaker than the others, but perhaps only 2-3 songs are pure fillers, while the other still have some glowing moment. The technical deliveries of the musicians are flawless but the uneven songs are the low key. With some spectacular delivery on the wonderful songs, "Temple of Shadows" was saved from being condemned a mediocre attempt. For fans of power and progressive metal, this album is a good buy, and for hardcore fans of Angra, this could be a better effort compared to couple of Matos-era albums.
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