Angra latest album Omni

Before I get into the main topic I need to say that I have hardly listened to any prog metal or any of the modern power metal bands in the past 2 years ( Power metal had gotten a new bizarre definition in the 90s- Helloween and Gamma Ray derivatives-  which is completely different from the one we, old metal heads, used in the 80s thus my comment ) except Fates Warning and Queensyrche. In the past I was a big fan of Angra but I stopped listening to them in 2007/2008. I had seen on the internet some news that addressed the participation of the "soap pop country" singer Sandy at their latest recently released album Omni so when I went to check its results I supposed to be no less than awful,  I  then found myself listening to the album and and next to their previous ones  ( post Andre Mattos era, because I am not a big fan of the first 3 albums ) and enjoying them a lot.

Has anyone heard their latest album "Omni" or had a similar experience like I had ?

I still need to get into this band properly. I did purchase their 5 in 1 original albums box a while ago, but i have yet to give them a good listen. This said, i will probably check their other releases.

I think this boxset contains all records with former singer André Mattos. I am not a big fan of his vocals or his songwriting and playing ( he was the main composer ) because he likes to have orchestrations and keyboards high in the mix and sometimes I find them too stagy for my tastes. He left the band in 1999 and Angra started a new phase with heavier songs, a better singer, more guitar oriented songs and more rhythmic variations. I could say that the Mattos era can be described as symphonic power metal unlike the era without him which I think to be more progressive power metal oriented, with a lot of shredding in an old Symphony X way.

Anyway, a lot of people loves the Mattos era. I had the chance to see one oft he last Mattos concerts in 1999 and it was pretty good.

i like early angra but the later stuff was very pedestrian.

Angra never stood out to me. Too many similar sounding bands.

The only one I own is Temple of Shadows. I got it for the interesting guests.

exact33 wrote:

i like early angra but the later stuff was very pedestrian.

I used to like early Angra too. I played "Holy Land" Cd gazillion of times, the point is I cannot stand Andre Matos anymore, except in the first Viper "Soldiers Of Sunrise". I am certain you know that Angra was a band made up by a local metal magazine called Rock brigade which gathered a team of high skilled musicians and created Angra.

I got Omni a few days ago but haven't listened to it yet. Their last album I liked a lot. I was skeptical with Fabio Leone doing the vocals but he works. I like his vocals for the other bands he has done but Angra has a specific sound so I wasn't sure what it was going to be but I actually enjoy this Era of Angra the best maybe. We'll see what happens when I listen to the new album.

I haven't listened to much Angra at all. Just an occasional song here and there. But I'll be seeing them in Sept. when I go to ProgPower.