"At age 26, the band shows motivation and strength like never before. Not even the sometimes uncertain trajectory was able to take away the focus, determination and inspiration of the quintet led – and founded – by Rafael Bittencourt, and formed by Felipe Andreoli (bass), Fabio Lione (vocals), Marcelo Barbosa (guitar) and Bruno Valverde (drums).

ØMNI is Angra’s 9th studio album, the result of months of intense dedication, blood, and sweat. It will be released on February 16, 2018 on earMUSIC."

https://overdrive-mag.com/2017/12/06/angra-announce-new-album-details-drop-new-song-travelers-time/



Totally missed this being announced. The single sounds.... alright, but hopefully it isn't the best track on the album. Tentatively hopeful this will be solid.

The Niagara Falls are shrinking. Every year, the rushing water erodes more than 12 inches of limestone. Some day, the falls will have sunk into Lake Erie.

Angra reminds me of this. They made an amazing album with Temple of Shadows, and they've spent the 14 years since in decline. No abrupt changes of tone, no hilarious St Anger style jokes. They just gradually got worse and worse, shedding talented members and inspiration, and now we're here.

Their last album didn't thrill me and the new song does't either. They need Edu Falaschi and Kiko Loureiro back.

I missed their last one but this song isn't too bad. Nice heavy prog riffs and Fabio sounds very good. But it just doesn't really sound like Angra anymore. This sounds like it could be any average prog power band from anywhere in the world. No real identity of its own. This is kinda what I expected.

I remember lots of praise for the last album but I have to say as a huge fan of Angra it really did nothing for me. This new song actually sounds better than anything from that last one to my ears.

I like this new song a lot. It's in the same style as the last album, which I really enjoyed. Looking forward to this.

P.S. 'Temple of Shadows' actually took a long time to grow on me. 'Secret Garden' was immediate. Strange how taste works.

Wow, Kiko jumped ship eh? I suppose I should have guessed that with the Megadeth thing and all but damn I never imagined that I'd listen to an Angra album without Kiko.

Temple of Shadows is a problematic album and has flaws, but Rebirth, Aurora Consurgens and Aqua are all masterclass in my book. They really carved out a unique niche. Even ToS is a part of this and has some great moments amid the pomposity, and still their style.

Can't agree with this at all. Temple of Shadows was a huge step down after Rebirth, but the band redeemed themselves with Aurora Consurgens.

The song itself is ok. My biggest worry with this band is that they move away from metal and more towards Brazilian influences. I appreciate that is a unique part of what they do and has been since the debut, but these guys are at their best when playing high-speed power metal, or even mid-tempo proggy power metal.

Eh, Aqua was their best for me because it seamlessly added the Brazilian folk influence into more songs than usual. This new stuff is more bland because I am not hearing any Brazilian stuff yet. Hope the other songs have it.

I used to kinda like Angra, but nowadays the only songs I can stand are "Evil Warning" and "Morning Star." Somewhere along the line, the mere thought of Angra started to make me physically ill with aggressive disinterest, if that makes any sense.

First thought: sounds like they sat down at the drawing board and went "ok what do we want this to sound like? Staccato guitars, that's modern. Weird sounding chords, so people know we are progressive. Some un-melodic vocal lines too, that's progressive. Then a melodic chorus that's easy to sing along too. Shit! Too many words! Oh well, it'll do. Medieval choirs, those are cool! Can we cram in some of those? Good! Guitar solo, check. Shred solo, check. Wait, it's not really heavy, is it? Throw in one of those really heavy "break downs" at the end, and we're set. There, done! Oh no! We forgot the folky part! What to do, what to do? Just put in some brazilic drums at the beginning. Now we just need Edu to come and sing. What? Edu is not singing? Fabio will be singing on the actual album? Oh. Hey Fabio, what the fuck is "the rainbow's eye", and how do you ride it??"

Yeah I agree with Opus, sounds pretty bland all the pieces just feel slapped together no thought put into the composition.

Fabio sounds incredible....but that's just about it. I hope the full album does way better than just this song. I miss the old Angra who just seemed to be BURSTING with how many exciting things they wanted to show you with each and every song.

Can't say I agree, although Evil Warning is one of the best power metal songs ever. Morning Star is great too. Can't believe you don't like Nothing to Say.

God damnit, now I gotta listen to the Angra back catalogue

I agree with you Emp, though when you say ToS has it's problems. That being said, when it's on it is FUCKING OOOOON. Some of their best tracks are on that bad boy. Angra had a pretty fucking incredible run, actually.

It's just too much stuff. That attempt to create this huge florid musical opera is very dated now, and you can see especially because they moved away from that afterwards - it's a lot of effort and pomp and they were trying to do something very specific that doesn't really work for everyone.

I haven't paid attention to Angra in a long time, I did like Aqua when it came out, and have enjoyed the other random tunes I've heard by them, but was never in love. I actually really like this new song though, very cool riffs and melodies and not cheesy. Count me in.

Sounds cool. Temple of Shadows is their best album in my opinion, my personal favorite. I like some of their later material but I love just about every single minute of ToS. Would be keen to hear what they've been up to.

New song & music video! I actually liked this song more than the other one. It's mellower but still fast paced and heavy, and Fabio sounds great.

I like the main melody, but I find the chorus to be a little lacking. Wish there was a little more contemporary influence in the melody writing, it's just kinda lame to hear the same quasi operatic wailing we've been hearing in power metal choruses since the 90s. The instrumental break is pretty sick though. All that said, consider my interest piqued.

meh, i liked it

These last couple albums just haven't sounded like Angra to me. Competent, but uninspired. A few songs in, and I can already tell this new one won't grow on me.

Oh well, at least we'll always have Aqua and ToS...

Halfway through this record, I cannot stress enough how badly the harsh vocals of Alissa White-Gluz affect the otherwise total earworm "Black Widow's Web". Totally unnecessary in my opinion.

guitars are too muddy

Very good album and it could rank up there with my three Angra-favorites (Rebirth, Temple of Shadows and Angels Cry). I also liked Secret Garden, but it was a bit uneven.
Lots of great songs on this one, and I like that Lione sings on all the tracks but one. On Secret Garden I think it was three of them where he didn't participate.
The big minus is the horrible vocals of Alissa White-Gluz on Black Widow's Web, as mentioned above.
Have to buy the Japanese version as well though, because I can't stand those extra thin and horrible digipak-versions.

I'm really digging the new album and while not perfect, I think it's a huge improvement from everything after Rebirth.

Do all the CD versions have the bonus track (Z.I.T.O)? I was pleasantly surprised to hear that it was included on my CD, though it's not mentioned on the tracklisting or in the booklet.