Fine music, befuddled storyline
Repairtheworld | USA | 03/25/2007
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Angra represents the cross cultural pollination of the metal genre, and they do it with style and virtuoso performance for the most part. Yeah, some of the cuts, like Sprouts of Time sound like being transported back to a 1980's concert at the Copa, but the metal work which some reviewers call a "rip off" of Euro metal, is good metal with a little Brazilian flavor. What's wrong guys, can't you dig a little palm oil on your bratwurst? Besides, metal has elements that make it what it is--double bass, shredding leads, power chords, dampened notes--and the ever present full range vocalist. Alot of these bands write a fantasy story to blow changes and shred to, and they record it. Sounds like fun to me.
That brings us to the storyline, which simply said is garbled. Yeah, yeah, we know the Catholic Church was responsible for the oppression of the masses, the virtual enslavement and supression of the Jews, and tended to want everyone to do it their way. But the Crusaders, for all their excesses, did hold the Muslims back from Europe enough times as to allow the Enlightenment to go on unmolested in Europe while Islam sat in a culteral backwater for 1000 years. Had they and Charles Martel not held them back, we would not be talking about Euro-Brazilian Metal on computers, we'd be on our knees on a prayer rug if we survived the usual childhood diseases and our daddy didn't displease the Sultan.
"
Epic
Justin Gaines | Northern Virginia | 04/28/2007
(4 out of 5 stars)
"After being absolutely blown away by Angra's 2001 album Rebirth, I had very high expectations for the band's follow-up album Temple of Shadows. Part of that is due to the incredibly high quality of Rebirth, and part is due to the fact that the band made us wait three long years for this album. Either way, once I finally heard Temple of Shadows I was both over and under-whelmed.
I was overwhelmed due to the fact that Temple of Shadows is an extremely ambitious, musically adventurous concept album. You can tell that Angra put a tremendous amount of time and energy into this album. The songwriting, musicianship, orchestration, and production quality are all on par with Blind Guardian's A Night at the Opera album, and like that album, it takes several spins to really get into ToS. The persistence pays off though, as you'll soon start to really appreciate all that Angra accomplished with this album.
Temple of Shadows is a bit underwhelming in that it doesn't have the immediate impact that Rebirth had. I know it's not terribly fair, but I was expecting another album like Rebirth, and this is a totally different kind of album. As impressive as songs like "Spread Your Fire" and "Angels and Demons" are, they don't jump out at you right away the way nearly every song on Rebirth did. Again, once you've heard the album a few times you'll start to appreciate it more.
Angra isn't the kind of band to do the same thing twice, so Temple of Shadows is as different from Rebirth as Holy Land was to Angels Cry. In fact, Temple of Shadows comes across as a (much) heavier version of Holy Land. Both are ambitious concept albums that showcase a group of musicians who constantly evolve and challenge themselves. That's probably where the similarities end, as Temple of Shadows is a much heavier, much more aggressive effort than Holy Land, and the Brazilian elements that made Holy Land so compelling are not as evident on Temple of Shadows.
In the end, Temple of Shadows is a very satisfying Angra album, even if it wasn't exactly what I had expected. It goes without saying that this is a must-have for Angra fans, but most prog/power metal fans will want to check it out as well, if for no other reason than that Hansi Kurisch (Blind Guardian) and Kai Hansen (Gamma Ray) make guest appearances.
NOTE: The special edition of Temple of Shadows comes with a bonus live DVD. This isn't just some random collection of live footage either. It is the actual Live in Sao Paolo DVD that the band released a year earlier, which makes the Temple of Shadows special edition such a bonus.
NOTE 2: The early import version of the Temple of Shadows special edition comes in a nice digipack with a poster, but the DVD won't play in US players. The US version of the special edition has an all-region DVD, but comes in a standard jewel case."
Even in 2008 this is the greatest metal album ever
John J. Swartz | 12/31/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I'm not a huge Angra fan, I feel there are much better metal bands out there, but somehow the stars aligned and Angra was able to craft my favorite metal album ever. I feel no review could express how much I love this album but wth here it goes.
It's rare for every song to be awesome on an album but this does it. Nothing is wasted anywhere and every instrument and vocal note seems to be placed for a purpose. The guest musicians are awesome even Kai Hansen and Hansi Kursch sound better than they do on their own stuff. Especailly Hansen, man I wish he sounded like that in Gamma Ray, so sinister.
This album has a variety of metal genres in it not just power metal.
Check it out, you'll love it."
Track Listings (13) - Disc #1
