Angra – Cycles of Pain
Release Date: 3rd November 2023
Label: Atomic Fire Records
Order/Stream
Genre: Power Metal, Progressive Metal.
FFO: Blind Guardian, Firewind, Rhapsody of Fire, Symphony X.
Review By: Eric Wilt
Few Brazilian metal bands have been able to consistently put out quality records for as long as Angra has been doing so. Thirty years have passed since their 1993 debut album Angels Cry dropped, and in the proceeding years, they have released record after record of beautiful, intricate power metal with some of the best vocalists and instrumentalists that the world has to offer. The current line-up consists of founding member Rafael Bittencourt on guitar and keys, Felipe Andreoli on bass and keys, singer Fabio Lione, Bruno Valverde on drums, and Marcelo Barbosa also on guitar. The new album entitled Cycles of Pain is the band’s tenth and the third featuring this (third) iteration of the band.
By now, you know what you’re getting with Angra: catchy, elaborate progressive-power metal with big, anthemic choruses and slick shredding played by musicians at the top of their games, but that doesn’t make the proposition of a new album any less exciting. Cycles of Pain contains twelve tracks that include everything Angra has become known for. As Bittencourt says of the new album, “The arrangements are all very complex, with lots of instruments, with a huge thread of musical lines…a lot of rhythms, percussion, orchestras, choirs and acoustic instruments.”
Ride into the Storm kicks things off with a typical Angra melody backed by orchestration and a choir. It’s a very classically Angra song, and the perfect way to begin Cycles of Pain. Dead Man on Display is one of the heavier songs on the album, with lots of speed metal and shredding. Vida Seca features some traditional Brazilian sounding sections and features guest vocals by LENINE. Gods of the World is perhaps the most progressive song on the album, especially in the instrumental intro section and during the first solo. The title song is a softer ballad-type song in which Lione takes on a Geoff Tate sound. While Generation Warriors is another heavier song and is reminiscent of Helloween.
With Cycles of Pain, Angra has added another amazing album to their storied career. Fans of the band will love the way they have moved forward while keeping all of the aspects of their music that we love intact. 
(4.5 / 5)
