Cd Reviews
- Thread starter Onhell
- Start date
Onhell
Infinite Dreamer
So I've been listening to Deep Purple's Machine Head and it is AMAZING. Even though it contains Smoke on the Water I was surprised how lame that song actually is, specially compared to others on the same album. It is impresive to know this is from '72, but then again so was Blue Oyster Cult and a lot of the Hard Rock acts that laid the foundation for Metal. Speaking of which I also got The Essential Blue Oyster Cult to get a good feel for the band and I LOVE it. I am definitely getting some albums by them as well as more Deep Purple and of course some Rainbow. Anyway, as far as the Cult goes I like their versions of Cities on Flames and Burnin' for You over Iced Earths, as well as their original for Astronomy over Metallica's. While Metallica's is a very good cover, I cringe when I here IE's renditions now. Both good cds and bands and the "innovations" are very clear, I think even today they can't be taken for granted.
A
Anonymous
Guest
Hmm... yeah, I agree. First on the Machine Head thing- it is, indeed a great album. It contains my favourite Purple track (Pictures Of Home), and some really great foundations for live extravaganzas. And having heard them perform most of that album live myself, I sure know what I'm talking about.
Then, yeah, Blue Öyster Cult is underrated. But to be honest, it's pretty hard to rate all those brilliant hard rock/heavy metal bands from the seventies adequately. I mean, if you like them, I'd recommend to you UFO, Rainbow, Thin Lizzy, and then some I don't even know properly myself.
Although Rainbow is essential listening.
Then, yeah, Blue Öyster Cult is underrated. But to be honest, it's pretty hard to rate all those brilliant hard rock/heavy metal bands from the seventies adequately. I mean, if you like them, I'd recommend to you UFO, Rainbow, Thin Lizzy, and then some I don't even know properly myself.
Although Rainbow is essential listening.
Never question Bruce Dickinson!
Onhell
Infinite Dreamer
hehe, priceless 
Anywho, I've been listening to the New In Flames cd and before you say "What? OMGADS dat is sooo UNKVLT!!!!11111" Let me just say I got it after previewing it. It is a rather odd cd starting with the cover. While the logo is no longer in "clean" or "refined" font letting you know they are attempting a return to their early days the artwork is very cartoony. The only picture of the band looks more like that of a rock band or... metalcore at best and in fact that is a good segway to the music itself.
The good ol' melodic In Flames is back, but it has retained the vocal melodies of recent albums, but they actually fit with the new music, it is finally a good balance of old and new In Flames. The result? Something that sounds more like Atreyu than well... Melodic Death Metal. Verdict? Nowhere close to albums of old like Whoracle, Jester Race, etc. BUT it is WAY better than say Reroute to Remain, Soundtrack to Your Escape and Come Clarity. Buyer discretion is advised
Anywho, I've been listening to the New In Flames cd and before you say "What? OMGADS dat is sooo UNKVLT!!!!11111" Let me just say I got it after previewing it. It is a rather odd cd starting with the cover. While the logo is no longer in "clean" or "refined" font letting you know they are attempting a return to their early days the artwork is very cartoony. The only picture of the band looks more like that of a rock band or... metalcore at best and in fact that is a good segway to the music itself.
The good ol' melodic In Flames is back, but it has retained the vocal melodies of recent albums, but they actually fit with the new music, it is finally a good balance of old and new In Flames. The result? Something that sounds more like Atreyu than well... Melodic Death Metal. Verdict? Nowhere close to albums of old like Whoracle, Jester Race, etc. BUT it is WAY better than say Reroute to Remain, Soundtrack to Your Escape and Come Clarity. Buyer discretion is advised
____no5
Free Man
Edgar Broughton Band -Wasa Wasa
rating : 4.5/ 5
1.Death Of An Electric Citizen
2.American Boy Soldier
3.Why Can't Somebody Love Me?
4.Neptune
5.Evil
6.Crying
7.Love In The Rain
8.Dawn Crept Away
raspy and dirty vocals, political lyrics, production straight to the bone
if you like MC5's works you gonna LOVE it -it's a bit particular though
a sample of their lyrics (American Boy Soldier )
What d'you wanna do boy?
Well, I don't really know
D'you wanna go back to school, kid?
Er……not really!
Well, d'you wanna go to work, boy?
Uh-uh!
D'you wanna dig potatoes, son?
No Siree!
What d'you wanna do, boy?
D'you wanna go to war, boy?
Ooh, yes please sir! (x3)
They're sending me home, shot through to the bone
He had a red cross on his arm, all I got was napalm
The American Army, the American Army,
Wait till the Russians get hold of you!
Not forgetting the Navy, not forgetting the Navy
And the Air force too!
Shot down from my plane, they leave me out cold
Never be the same again, I was just 16yrs old!
The American Army, the American Army,
Wait till the Russians get hold of you!
Not forgetting the Navy, Not forgetting the Navy
And the Air force too!
It'll be so nice to get back home to North Carolina
See my blonde, all-American honey bun
With her transistor radio turned up full!
Do all the things we used to do, back in the old days!
What a thrill it could be!
Hope you enjoy the air raid!!
Onhell
Infinite Dreamer
So I bought In Flame's A Sense of Purpose a while back, listened to it once, wasn't wowed by it and quickly forgot about it. I found it a few days ago while cleaning my car and decided to give it another go. Well, I'm surprised to say it is growing on me. I like it a lot now. It is as close as a "back to roots" cd as it can get. MUCH better than Reroute to Remain, Soundtrack to Your Escape and even Come Clarity. some songs retain that echoey chorus from the recent albums, and his voice is not as raspy. But musically the album is rather solid. I'm not too fond of the artwork either (part of the reason I didn't get into it at first), but after several listens it is worth picking up.
Glory2Hypnotoad
Trooper
I recently got After Forever's self-titled album, and while I'm not the biggest fan of gothic/symphonic metal, I really love this album. The songs are all accessible without sounding to poppy and beautiful without sacrificing heaviness. Floor Jansen is one of the best if not the best voice in today's symphonic metal scene and the album features some of the best interplay between operatic and death vocals I've ever heard. The standout tracks for me are Envision, Equally Destructive, and Strong. In short, this album is the archetype for how symphonic metal should be made.
Onhell
Infinite Dreamer
I've got so much music over the winter break it's not even funny and I'll be reviewing it in the oncoming days. First off Chicago Transit Authority. Continuing my recent obsession with "golden oldies" hehe, I decided to get Chicago's first album and I have to say I was floored. I've always prefered Chicago's older stuff over their sappy 80's crap, but I was not expecting this. The entire album SCREAMS "experimentation" and "freedom." It is extremely upbeat and ranges between pure rock and roll to "jazz rock," but it is quite a trip.
Chicago is the poster child for "video killed the radio star" as they started off as a "faceless" band and being all about the music, but after Terry Kath's death and the rise of Peter Cetera as sole lead singer it all changed as it coincided with the rise of MTV. I am still not sure why they decided to drop the horns, but as Cetera got more face time and their new sappy sound got more tv and radio time the band just fell apart. It is sad that after starting with three SOLID double LP's (talk about the limits of technology as they are all now in a single cd presentation), few people remember those very innovative, very exciting days for Chicago.
Here is a 1972 (horrible) clip of "introduction," my favorite track on the album with original singer Kath:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOroWOamrpQ&feature=related
and here is a 2007 version with better audio quality, couldn't find a fan version with the album version, still awesome performances (Kath's especially) and awesome song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMdo1LylUoY&feature=related
Chicago is the poster child for "video killed the radio star" as they started off as a "faceless" band and being all about the music, but after Terry Kath's death and the rise of Peter Cetera as sole lead singer it all changed as it coincided with the rise of MTV. I am still not sure why they decided to drop the horns, but as Cetera got more face time and their new sappy sound got more tv and radio time the band just fell apart. It is sad that after starting with three SOLID double LP's (talk about the limits of technology as they are all now in a single cd presentation), few people remember those very innovative, very exciting days for Chicago.
Here is a 1972 (horrible) clip of "introduction," my favorite track on the album with original singer Kath:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOroWOamrpQ&feature=related
and here is a 2007 version with better audio quality, couldn't find a fan version with the album version, still awesome performances (Kath's especially) and awesome song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMdo1LylUoY&feature=related
Onhell said:
Chicago wasn't 100% dominated by Cetera, even in the 80s. After he left the band, they still had a #1 hit in 1988-1989 with "Look Away" (#1 for one week in December 1988, and Billboard #1 single of the year for 1989). However, "Look Away" is just as horrible and sappy as the rest of 80s Chicago.
In other words, Cetera wasn't the problem by himself. The whole band contributed to the decline. Cetera was merely the most visible face (as you noted).
On the other hand, Cetera was a co-writer on Chicago's 2 biggest 80s hits: "Hard To Say I'm Sorry" and "You're The Inspiration" ... while "Look Away" was written by professional spewer of sappy ballads Diane Warren. Further, Cetera's co-writer on those 2 songs was not another member of Chicago, but rather David Foster (another professional spewer of sappy ballads). Implication: Cetera did contribute more to Chicago's decline than the other members, even if he wasn't alone in doing so. Maybe the rest of Chicago can say they didn't write "Look Away", but they did play that dumb song over and over.
And why did they drop the horns? I can't say for sure, but it is worth noting that horn sections were much rarer (in pop music) in the 80s than in the 70s. The entire pop world shifted away from horns. I don't know if Chicago led or followed the trend, but they were at least part of it.
Onhell
Infinite Dreamer
So I've purchased A LOT of music in the past year, some worth reviewing at length some... not so much. While I love My Best of Neil Diamond I have no words to express how awesome his stuff is.
But anyway, Old purchases: I went ahead and bought Edguy's first two efforts Kindom of Madness and Vainglory Opera. I was a bit aprehenssive at first because as good as Theater of Salvation is, it's far from a "solid" effort. I was VERY pleasantly suprised to say the least. HOLY SHIT! hard to believe they were 16-17 and writing that well. Both albums are much stronger and consistent than Theater of Salvation which, outside of Babylon and the title track, actually dips a bit in quality. Another thing I realized was that I shouldn't be too hard on their recent change to a more of a hard rock style. They cranked out brilliant Power Metal for nearly a decade and if they want to evolve or move on it is perfectly understandable. Both very well worth it.
More recent purchases:
I went ahead and got Stratovarius' last CD not knowing what to expect. This band has been in turmoil for so many years and has had real and fake scandals alike (in early 2000 it was said Kotipelto was fired and replaced with a female singer, just for the sake of publicity) and their last three albums were sub-par and that's being nice. Like Opeth, Stratovarius is a one man band with 99.9% of its writing coming from Timmo Tolki. Again like Opeth, Tolki was not a founding member of Stratovarius but immediately took over upon joining in the early 80s. The classic line-up, of course, is that from 1995 to just recently of Tolki at guitar, Kotipelto in vocals, Jorg Michael on drums, Jens Johansson on keyboards and Jari Kainulainen on Bass. That line-up produced some of the most iconic Power Metal only rivaled by that of early Helloween.
Anyway, after hitting a noticeable dip in quality on the Elements Pt. 1 and Pt. 2 albums followed by a horrible mess of a self-titled album, Tolki quit the band, signed over the rights to the rest of the band and the band moved on and mad Polaris. What does a Tolki-less Stratovarius sound like? Well, with writing efforts from all members including new guitarist, Matias Kupiainen, and bassist, Lauri Porra They have not missed A SINGLE BEAT. This is very much a back to roots effort if there ever was one. Is it as majestic as Visions or any other of their mid 90s releases? No. But it reminds me of Fourth Dimension where it is a very solid album with good to great tracks on it. very awesome. Pick it up
I also picked up Hammerfall's latest: No Sacrifice, No Victory. I have to say that since Chapter V: Unbent, Unbound, Unbroken, it will be hard for Hammerfall to hit that high again. Chapter V is by far their best effort. This is a band that was on a steady climb with each subsequent album better than the last. Then Threshold was rather disappointing to me and to this day I rathre go back to Renegade, than to Threshold. No Sacrifice, No Victory is a nice step up and is much more consistent. It is back to the "sing-a-long" choruses, but it has it's low points like the song Legion, which both musically and lyrically leaves a lot to be desired... even for Hammerfall. A good buy.
Next we have Sonata Arctica's Days of Grays. A supposedly "darker" album than the previous, Unia, it sounds more like a mix between Winterheart's Guild and Reckoning Night (the inside picture behind the CD is that of the boat from Reckoning night and it is also on the front cover towards the bottom.) This is a band that has undergone a lot of changes with only Tony Kakko and the drummer, Tommy Portimo (I wonder if those are their real first names or they anglicized them...) from the original line-up. This band has suffered from the line-up changes even though Tony is the head song writer. Their only AMAZING album is their first, Ecliptica, but Silence is a great follow-up, but it just got weird after that with more experimental/artsy ventures with the ocassional great song. Unia was a WONDERFUL rebirth with a finally solid and consistent effort. When I heard Days of Grays was a "darker" album it annoyed me. When power metal bands go "dark" it's like dressing Raggedy Ann and Andy in Goth... I mean seriously? Kakko writes all the material and while it is growing on me I am still not impressed, specially like Unia impressed me. Pick it up if you're a fan, the rest beware.
Speaking of Tony Kakko, he made an appearance on this next album Forostar has already been nice enough to mention way back when it was released. Epica's Design Your Universe. WOW.... seriously, what a FANTASTIC album, there should be a picture of this album next to the word PERFECT in the dictionary. From start to finish it is nothing but an eargasm. Man has this band gotten better, from Simon's singing to their arrangements, the choirs, just a flat out amazing album. I have not taken it out of my car since I bought it close to a month ago. I was most impressed with Simon's singing, she has really learned to control her range and make it fit the song rather than just belt high mezzo-soprano notes. A very mature, very solid piece of work. GET IT TODAY!!!!
Sorry for the long post, but it seems I only post here once a year lol and we have new members that my like to browse through it.
But anyway, Old purchases: I went ahead and bought Edguy's first two efforts Kindom of Madness and Vainglory Opera. I was a bit aprehenssive at first because as good as Theater of Salvation is, it's far from a "solid" effort. I was VERY pleasantly suprised to say the least. HOLY SHIT! hard to believe they were 16-17 and writing that well. Both albums are much stronger and consistent than Theater of Salvation which, outside of Babylon and the title track, actually dips a bit in quality. Another thing I realized was that I shouldn't be too hard on their recent change to a more of a hard rock style. They cranked out brilliant Power Metal for nearly a decade and if they want to evolve or move on it is perfectly understandable. Both very well worth it.
More recent purchases:
I went ahead and got Stratovarius' last CD not knowing what to expect. This band has been in turmoil for so many years and has had real and fake scandals alike (in early 2000 it was said Kotipelto was fired and replaced with a female singer, just for the sake of publicity) and their last three albums were sub-par and that's being nice. Like Opeth, Stratovarius is a one man band with 99.9% of its writing coming from Timmo Tolki. Again like Opeth, Tolki was not a founding member of Stratovarius but immediately took over upon joining in the early 80s. The classic line-up, of course, is that from 1995 to just recently of Tolki at guitar, Kotipelto in vocals, Jorg Michael on drums, Jens Johansson on keyboards and Jari Kainulainen on Bass. That line-up produced some of the most iconic Power Metal only rivaled by that of early Helloween.
Anyway, after hitting a noticeable dip in quality on the Elements Pt. 1 and Pt. 2 albums followed by a horrible mess of a self-titled album, Tolki quit the band, signed over the rights to the rest of the band and the band moved on and mad Polaris. What does a Tolki-less Stratovarius sound like? Well, with writing efforts from all members including new guitarist, Matias Kupiainen, and bassist, Lauri Porra They have not missed A SINGLE BEAT. This is very much a back to roots effort if there ever was one. Is it as majestic as Visions or any other of their mid 90s releases? No. But it reminds me of Fourth Dimension where it is a very solid album with good to great tracks on it. very awesome. Pick it up
I also picked up Hammerfall's latest: No Sacrifice, No Victory. I have to say that since Chapter V: Unbent, Unbound, Unbroken, it will be hard for Hammerfall to hit that high again. Chapter V is by far their best effort. This is a band that was on a steady climb with each subsequent album better than the last. Then Threshold was rather disappointing to me and to this day I rathre go back to Renegade, than to Threshold. No Sacrifice, No Victory is a nice step up and is much more consistent. It is back to the "sing-a-long" choruses, but it has it's low points like the song Legion, which both musically and lyrically leaves a lot to be desired... even for Hammerfall. A good buy.
Next we have Sonata Arctica's Days of Grays. A supposedly "darker" album than the previous, Unia, it sounds more like a mix between Winterheart's Guild and Reckoning Night (the inside picture behind the CD is that of the boat from Reckoning night and it is also on the front cover towards the bottom.) This is a band that has undergone a lot of changes with only Tony Kakko and the drummer, Tommy Portimo (I wonder if those are their real first names or they anglicized them...) from the original line-up. This band has suffered from the line-up changes even though Tony is the head song writer. Their only AMAZING album is their first, Ecliptica, but Silence is a great follow-up, but it just got weird after that with more experimental/artsy ventures with the ocassional great song. Unia was a WONDERFUL rebirth with a finally solid and consistent effort. When I heard Days of Grays was a "darker" album it annoyed me. When power metal bands go "dark" it's like dressing Raggedy Ann and Andy in Goth... I mean seriously? Kakko writes all the material and while it is growing on me I am still not impressed, specially like Unia impressed me. Pick it up if you're a fan, the rest beware.
Speaking of Tony Kakko, he made an appearance on this next album Forostar has already been nice enough to mention way back when it was released. Epica's Design Your Universe. WOW.... seriously, what a FANTASTIC album, there should be a picture of this album next to the word PERFECT in the dictionary. From start to finish it is nothing but an eargasm. Man has this band gotten better, from Simon's singing to their arrangements, the choirs, just a flat out amazing album. I have not taken it out of my car since I bought it close to a month ago. I was most impressed with Simon's singing, she has really learned to control her range and make it fit the song rather than just belt high mezzo-soprano notes. A very mature, very solid piece of work. GET IT TODAY!!!!
Sorry for the long post, but it seems I only post here once a year lol and we have new members that my like to browse through it.
Onhell
Infinite Dreamer
New CD to review! I've been listening to Avantasia's Wicked Symphony NONSTOP for two weeks now and I have to say it is REALLY good.
Avantasia began as a one time "supergroup" project by Tobias Sammet from Edguy. He wrote the Metal Opera pts 1&2 and they were a an ok showing of power metal. Pt. 1 is WAY better than Pt. 2 and to this day my biggest complaint was that the vocalists he got were all power metal singers which frankly sound too alike. It brought little variety to the different "characters." all in all good albums. Then he released The Scarecrow and as far as guest vocalists it was an improvement from the metal operas with a wider range in vocal diversity. Classic Power Metal singers like Michael Kiske, deeper voices like Jorne Lande (ex-masterplan) and Roy Khan (Kamelot) and even Rock singers (Alice Cooper.) Even so, I played this CD like for a week, haven't touched it since. Good album, rather forgetable. I go back to the Metal Operas all the time, for some reason The scarecrow does not have the same staying power.
With that said, The Wicked Symphony fixes most of those issues. The guest list is mindboggling. Once again we get Michael Kiske and Andre Matos; Jorne Lande also returns and the new additions were very cool. Russel Allen (Symphony x), Klaus Meine (Scorpions) and Tim "The Ripper" Owens. I loved the song with Allen and Lande as it is very reminecent of their Allen-Lande projects. Not only are the vocal performances unbelievable (even Sammet's singing got better), but the musical variety is better. Ripper's track is flat out heavy and with no exaggeration at times I thought I was listening to Iced Earth. The stand out tracks are Owen's, Meine's and Allen's solo song. The one disappointment is Kiske song as to me it sounds WAY to similar to that from the Scarecrow, but still a good track.
If you are a metal fan you HAVE TO pick this up, not only from the guest performances, but it is a legitimately good buy. Another reason why I like it is because it is metal through and through. I was having issues with Edguy and Avantasia heading in similar directions since they are both basically ran by Sammet. However, considering Edguy did great power metal for a decade I began accepting their change into more hard rock and Avantasia is not the same flavor of power metal as edguy was and with this new album they are really starting to explore new avenues, which is awesome. It definitely is not more of the same.
Owens' song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBUKMyVYyrg
Meine's song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quH_vUCdy2o
Avantasia began as a one time "supergroup" project by Tobias Sammet from Edguy. He wrote the Metal Opera pts 1&2 and they were a an ok showing of power metal. Pt. 1 is WAY better than Pt. 2 and to this day my biggest complaint was that the vocalists he got were all power metal singers which frankly sound too alike. It brought little variety to the different "characters." all in all good albums. Then he released The Scarecrow and as far as guest vocalists it was an improvement from the metal operas with a wider range in vocal diversity. Classic Power Metal singers like Michael Kiske, deeper voices like Jorne Lande (ex-masterplan) and Roy Khan (Kamelot) and even Rock singers (Alice Cooper.) Even so, I played this CD like for a week, haven't touched it since. Good album, rather forgetable. I go back to the Metal Operas all the time, for some reason The scarecrow does not have the same staying power.
With that said, The Wicked Symphony fixes most of those issues. The guest list is mindboggling. Once again we get Michael Kiske and Andre Matos; Jorne Lande also returns and the new additions were very cool. Russel Allen (Symphony x), Klaus Meine (Scorpions) and Tim "The Ripper" Owens. I loved the song with Allen and Lande as it is very reminecent of their Allen-Lande projects. Not only are the vocal performances unbelievable (even Sammet's singing got better), but the musical variety is better. Ripper's track is flat out heavy and with no exaggeration at times I thought I was listening to Iced Earth. The stand out tracks are Owen's, Meine's and Allen's solo song. The one disappointment is Kiske song as to me it sounds WAY to similar to that from the Scarecrow, but still a good track.
If you are a metal fan you HAVE TO pick this up, not only from the guest performances, but it is a legitimately good buy. Another reason why I like it is because it is metal through and through. I was having issues with Edguy and Avantasia heading in similar directions since they are both basically ran by Sammet. However, considering Edguy did great power metal for a decade I began accepting their change into more hard rock and Avantasia is not the same flavor of power metal as edguy was and with this new album they are really starting to explore new avenues, which is awesome. It definitely is not more of the same.
Owens' song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBUKMyVYyrg
Meine's song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quH_vUCdy2o
Onhell
Infinite Dreamer
Seeing how the last CD I reviewed was Avantasia's Wicked Symphony, I will follow up with Avantasia's Angel Of Babylon. AOB and WS were recorded simultaneously and the quality is really consistent. I am really glad for these two CDs. I started getting fed up with Edguy's hard rock direction and The Scarecrow while better in respects to guest vocalists, still fell short in quality of material. Well, not the case in both WS and AOB. Most of the vocalists return to this one, with the additions of Jon Oliva in Death is just a Feeling and Cloudy Yang doing lead vocals, both tracks are phenomenal. Great album worth picking up.
I also picked up Angra's Aqua. According to Bittancourt, one of the guitarists, the album is based on Shakespeare's The Tempest. In an interview he said that while reading the play him and his bandmates noticed the importance of water, not only in changing the mood of the events, but as a character itself. The biggest change in this album is that Rafael Confessori returns as drummer after a 9 year absence. He had left along with Matos and the bassist to form Shaaman, a very good, very short lived band.
The album is reminiscent of Temple of Shadows and it is a very solid album. My favorite tracks by far are Arising Thunder and Rage of the Waters. A somewhat sneaking thing that the band has done in this album is give ALL the songs the same structure, which IMO makes them lazy. Still great songs but ALL the songs are structured, verse, verse, (sometimes 3rd verse), chorus, solo/instrumental, chorus. Still very good and worth picking up. Angra is a band everyone thought dead after the departure of practically the entire band, but ever since the additions of Edu Falachi and Felipe Andreoli, they've been amazing, an even BETTER incarnation of the band.
I also picked up Angra's Aqua. According to Bittancourt, one of the guitarists, the album is based on Shakespeare's The Tempest. In an interview he said that while reading the play him and his bandmates noticed the importance of water, not only in changing the mood of the events, but as a character itself. The biggest change in this album is that Rafael Confessori returns as drummer after a 9 year absence. He had left along with Matos and the bassist to form Shaaman, a very good, very short lived band.
The album is reminiscent of Temple of Shadows and it is a very solid album. My favorite tracks by far are Arising Thunder and Rage of the Waters. A somewhat sneaking thing that the band has done in this album is give ALL the songs the same structure, which IMO makes them lazy. Still great songs but ALL the songs are structured, verse, verse, (sometimes 3rd verse), chorus, solo/instrumental, chorus. Still very good and worth picking up. Angra is a band everyone thought dead after the departure of practically the entire band, but ever since the additions of Edu Falachi and Felipe Andreoli, they've been amazing, an even BETTER incarnation of the band.