Band:	Angra
Album:	Angels Cry
Style:	Progressive power metal
Release date:	October 1993
Guest review by:	hottercraft

01. Unfinished Allegro
02. Carry On
03. Time
04. Angels Cry
05. Stand Away
06. Never Understand
07. Wuthering Heights [Kate Bush cover]
08. Streets Of Tomorrow
09. Evil Warning
10. Lasting Child
    1 - The Parting Words
    2 - Renaissance
11. Evil Warning [edited version] [bonus]
12. Angels Cry [remixed version] [bonus]
13. Carry On [remixed version] [bonus]

If we look in the Metal world, we won't find a lot of well-known Brazilian bands... but there are two bands that almost every Metal fan knows: Sepultura and Angra. Angra is probably lesser-known than Sepultura, but in my opinion they're definitely better.

There are two types of Power Metal: the one which is powerful, thrashy and the one which is melodic and beautiful. Obviously, Angra plays the second type of Power Metal. They have really great melodic songs along all their discography, but here I will talk only about "Angels Cry". Angels Cry is a good album, there's no doubt about it. The best things in this album are probably the rhythm changes and the great melodies. They are playing a beautiful and slow ballad but...surprise!! They suddenly turn up the intensity of the song and you can hear a completely different song in the time of 30 seconds, it's great!! I love these rhythm changes, specially in "Stand Away", which is probably the best song of this album. It has an awesome and really progressive and melodic interlude.

Choruses are great in this album...sometimes. There are really great choruses and really bad choruses in this album and this is probably the most important reason giving a 72% to this album: irregularity. Two of the best songs of this album, "Carry On" and "Evil Warning" have really great choruses, you should pay special attention to it, but some other ones make the songs even more boring than they are originally. I think I must underline the song "Evil Warning", the second best song of this album behind "Stand Away". In my opinion, Angra has made a good choice with having this song as the single of the album, because it has everything I'd hope to hear in a great song: great melody, great lyrics and a really great chorus. It's a really great song of melodic Power Metal. Why aren't the most of the other songs like this one??

Obviously, not everything in this album is cool. There are really boring songs. Melodies can be great, but if the song is boring those 'great' melodies become irrelevant. This is the problem in "Never Understand", a song which I thought it was eternal, and "Time", which is not the most lively song either, really slow course of the song.

This album leaves us with some awesome songs but the rest of them probably won't be wanted in my collection of "essential" songs. Not every slow song is a boring song but, believe me, Angra gets better when the band plays it's most powerful repertory.

Highlights: "Stand Away", "Evil Warning", "Carry On".