Review: Angra - Temple of Shadows | |||||||
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Temple of Shadows | |||||||
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Label: Rakibitiou Music Year released: 2004 Duration: 66:26 Tracks: 13 Genre: Progressive Power Metal Rating: Review online: January 6, 2005 Reviewed by: Sargon the Terrible |
Readers' Rating How do you rate this release? Rated 3.69/5 (73.82%) (55 Votes)
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Review | |||||||
Thirteen years and five full-length albums since their inception, Angra have finally proved that no, they can't do any better than "Rebirth". That was really the only Angra album I liked, and it had its flaws. This is just too much. Now if you are an Angra fan, you will no doubt love this, as it is an even more overblown wank-fest than usual. On previous albums these guys seemed able to keep things under control and stay at least nominally metal, but on "Temple Of Shadows" they just let it all hang out and overdosed on candy-coated prog stylings. The level of musicianship is very high, and the guitarwork is nothing short of stunning, but the songwriting as a whole suffers from a bad case of overload. It's as if they couldn't decide what parts went in what songs, so they just crammed everything in. Every tune (except the dull ballads, of which there are too many) is like a plastic pizza overflowing with promotional Disney keychains. There is too much keyboard wankery, too much arpeggio trilling, too much double-bass, and just too much in general. There is a whole shitload of music on this album, but not a single song that I could remember even after three spins in a row. "Angels And Demons" does have a good chorus, but it's surrounded and buried under a whole mess of bleeping, fluttering, hyperactive jerking off that is so distracting that I could not even tell you where the song starts and stops. This is a sound so overloaded it just makes your ears tired. And the worst part is there are a lot of cool parts on here, they just get lost in the sea of happy-crappy synth overload and relentless time changes. And at over an hour, the whole manic circus just seems interminable. So if you like Angra, or you like prog, then this will be just your thing. But if you like actual Heavy Metal then this is like getting a mouthful of whipped cream: light, tasty, and with nothing to really bite into that will satisfy you. When I heard the first track off this I laughed in embarrassment at how fruity it was, so don't say I didn't warn you. |
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More about Angra... | |||||||
Review: Aqua (reviewed by Hermer Arroyo) Review: Aqua (reviewed by Larry Griffin) Review: Aurora Consurgens (reviewed by Bruce Dragonchaser) Review: Cycles of Pain (reviewed by MetalMike) Review: Cycles of Pain (reviewed by Sargon the Terrible) Review: Fireworks (reviewed by Christopher Foley) Review: Rebirth (reviewed by Christian Renner) Review: Secret Garden (reviewed by Bruno Medeiros) Review: Temple of Shadows (reviewed by 4th Horseman) Review: Temple of Shadows (reviewed by Caspian) Interview with guitarist Rafael Bittencourt on February 16, 2002 (Interviewed by Christian Renner) | |||||||
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