Angra
Reaching Horizons

THE REVIEW

Delightful... this album is the true masterpiece signed by Angra, I am firmly convinced... "Reaching Horizons" is the best that André Matos, Rafael Bittencourt, Kiko Loureiro, Luis Mariutti and Ricardo Confessori have ever produced. Fresh, original, technical and never boring, "Reaching Horizons" includes many of the masterpieces contained in the sensational debut album "Angels Cry", here presented in their original versions. This is exactly the album's strong point, allowing us to notice the compositional and technical evolution of the group: speaking of the technical evolution, it must be said that in order to better balance the sounds, in "Angels Cry" the excellent Mariutti (for those who do not know, he is the band's first bassist) had less space to express himself, which absolutely does not happen on this demo, thus determining an even more in-depth and refined rhythmic section.

The album consists of eight tracks, of which five will be present in the subsequent album, here even presented with slightly different lyrics that contribute in their own way to embellish the already excellent product. The album opens with the beautiful "Evil Warning", which is opened by the precious voice of a young Andre Matos, accompanied by a beautiful choir, introducing us to the song: it is precisely here that the bass is heard more than in the official version, and it's a real pity to have cut small but fantastic solos that Mariutti delivered at the right moment. The song proves to be a little gem of power/progressive metal, based mostly on keyboards and (ever-present) drums, rich in tempo changes and solos, immediately making us understand the group's main intention, namely to compose masterpieces, and at least in this case they succeed greatly! Second song and another classic, I'm talking about "Time", a track that opens with as sweet as it is refined a classical guitar arpeggio that accompanies Matos, in a melodic crescendo that at 1 minute and 21 seconds explodes into a speed track with a strong impact; the voice draws different melodies from the "Time" that everyone knows, thus making this version more particular. Once again outstanding work by all the members, with a particular commendation once more to the bass and this time also to the guitars, truly sublime. We then move to "Reaching Horizons", a very sweet ballad, of rare beauty, one of those songs that you rarely get to hear: the song is ideally divisible into two parts, one melodic and acoustic and a second that still maintains a disarming delicacy, to which electric guitars fit very well, however: yet another masterpiece.

And now... ladies and gentlemen... you will witness (or rather listen to) THE ANGRY MASTERPIECE... get ready, we have arrived at the majestic "Carry On": classic intro from the unfinished by Schubert and here we go... distorted guitars, devoted to the purest speed; this song has it all from tempo changes to solos, from aggression to sweetness, nothing is missing, in addition Matos's performance here reaches sublime and never before heard peaks. The rhythmic section is splendid, performing unique work in precision and speed, but excellent work is also done by the choirs. The Bittencourt/Loureiro duo's solo is also fantastic. HISTORIC, there are no other words to define it. The other tracks, as beautiful as they are, do not shine as the previous ones, but a few words must be spent on the reworked version of "Wuthering Heights", which instead of having a piano base, is developed entirely on well-distorted guitars with the chorus moving between initially accelerated and then slowed tempos. In the end, despite not reaching the beauty of "Angels Cry" due to obvious production deficits and some youthful flaws, the album rises to a masterpiece and, in my opinion, should be considered a fundamental album in the career of these fantastic artists. A must-have.