Band:	Almah
Album:	Almah
Style:	Heavy metal, Power metal
Release date:	June 01, 2006
A review by:	Dream Taster

01. King
02. Take Back Your Spell
03. Forgotten Land
04. Scary Zone
05. Children Of Lies
06. Break All The Welds
07. Golden Empire [feat. Mike Stone]
08. Primitive Chaos
09. Breathe
10. Box Of Illusion
11. Almah
12. The Sign Of Glory [european limited edition bonus]
13. Supermind [european limited edition bonus]

In his spare time the lead singer of Angra decided to record his first solo opus with 2006's "Almah". The entire album is mostly a classic Heavy Metal effort with "in-you-face" tunes and lots of ballads, so if you're looking for more Angra, turn around.

The line-up/guest list is somewhat impressive for a first solo album: besides Edu (Angra, vocals and guitars), we find the names of Emppu Vuorinen (Nightwish, guitars), Mike Stone (Queensryche, guitars), Lauri Porra (Stratovarious/Sinergy, bass) and Casey Grillo (Kamelot, drums).

"Almah" is a solid album with a gripping opener, a couple of fast-pace compositions (a la? Angra, yes) but the best feature of the CD is undeniably its numerous ballads. Edu's voice sounds at times like Ronnie James Dio or even Geoff Tate in the softer variations.

Among the best moments are 'King' and the very catchy 'Children Of Lies' for the Heavy side while the epic 'Golden Empire', the emotion filled 'Primitive Chaos' and the progressive and relaxing 'Breathe' are the remarkable calm songs.

That unique Brazilian touch in the percussions is there, the guitar solos are convincing and Edu is doing a good job showing all he's got.

While "Almah" is not filled with power songs, it emerges as a very good listen if you are into the softer side of Angra, with a few very heavy tracks such as 'King' and 'Children Of Lies'. It's definitely something worth checking out if you like anything that has the qualifier Heavy Metal in it from Dio to Angra. As for myself, I am currently enjoying it more than Angra's "Aurora Consurgens".