Almah - Edu Falaschi
Style: Metal/Power Metal
Running Time: 42 Minutes and 21 Seconds
Label: http://www.candlelightrecords.co.uk/
Power Metal... It's something that irks and intrigues me, there are few bands that I can stomach, the cheese factor has to be low though. Fortunately for Almah's 'Edu Falaschi' the cheese factor of it rarely hits on that annoying level of "holy crap... this is hilariously bad". More balls behind the music and less behind the microphone seems to be the motto of most power metal with the operatic vocal styling reminiscent of 80's hair metal minus the androgyny of its members. Featuring somber moments of truly beautiful song work and guest work from some members of some very well known bands. Almah really hits all the right notes with 'Edu Falaschi' and it makes for a great album overall.
42 minutes pass fairly quickly when listening to 'Edu Falaschi' yet all the songs stick with you at the end of that near 3/4 of an hour. There are few songs on 'Edu Falaschi' that leave bad tastes in your mouth, 3rd track in "Forgotten Land" has a Queensrÿche feeling to it though the random jumping from fast paced 2nd in track "Take Back Your Spell" to "Forgotten Land" hardly fits it feels really thrown in the top for no good reason. Every song surrounding "Forgotten Land" is fast paced and fierce, while this track just sticks out somewhat like a sore thumb on the album. Sure it sounds great, but it feels weird in its place. Moving on though, the rest of 'Edu Falaschi' hardly suffers from that moment of "what the hell" thinking of song placement.
Guest work on a solo album sometimes defeats the purpose of it being a 'solo' album, unless its an entirely new direction. For Angra vocalist Eduardo Falaschi its not so much a departure from his norm but 'Edu Falaschi' takes on a feeling of something different. Fortunately thats a good thing for him, and the album. Featuring guest appearances from members of Queensrÿche, Kamelot, Nightwish, Stratovarius and Dr.Sin its hard to imagine this album being bad. Theres not any instrument that really sounds of place for the entirety of the album, and even when Almah slows down the ferocity is still there and biting back with thunderous drum work and driving guitar lines weaving in and out of fretboard squeals.
Almah has most assuredly created a great album with 'Edu Falaschi' with fantastic production values. Though awkwardly titled after its vocalist, every wrong point is virtually canceled out by stunning musicianship and great song writing and long lasting hooks that you'll be humming all day long despite feeling like a cheese ball for doing so.
Score: 8/10
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