HOLY LAND

I wish this was a little darker and didn't have those ballad sections. I don't know if you call this a concept album, but it's all about the land of Brasil. In fact when you open up the thick liner notes the whole one side is a map of the world with "Holy Land" written right where Brasil is. The band really offers up some good variety with classical(orchestration), Brasilian(ethnic), and Power-Metal passages being the most dominant of the styles. The vocalist is exceptional and there are two lead guitarists as well.

"Crossing" opens with the birds singing, that are replaced by a choir, that are then replaced by a thunder storm with pouring rain that sounds awesome ! "Nothing To Say" opens with heavy bass and drums as synths join in. A guitar solo then vocals all before a minute. A thundering soundscape. A blistering guitar solo after 3 1/2 minutes followed by some orchestration. "Silence And Distance" opens with piano and ballad-like vocals. It does kick into gear 1 1/2 minutes in. Ripping guitar 3 minutes in. Another thunderous rhythm section follows typical of power-metal. It ends like it began. "Caroilna IV" is hard not to like with the catchy latin beats. It changes 1 1/2 minutes in but get used to it because this one is all over the place. Aggressive and more uptempo before 3 minutes. Piano and violin after 4 1/2 minutes as it changes again. Orchestration and heavy drums are next. Full speed ahead Power-Metal 6 1/2 minutes in before we're back to the Brasilian groove from earlier.

"Holy Land" opens with percussion as piano takes over then flute as other instruments come in. Vocals a minute in followed by a fuller sound as the tempo continues to shift. Cool song. "The Shaman" has lots of power in it and even spoken words by the Shaman 3 minutes in. "Make Believe" has possibly the best passage on the album for me when the singer screams the lyrics 4 1/2 minutes in followed by some screaming guitar. Nice. "Z.I.T.O." is an uptempo track with another thunderous rhythm section. "Deep Blue" opens with organ then slowly sung vocals join in. It picks up as violin and piano come in. Deep vocals before 4 minutes then female vocals follow. Some great guitar before 5 minutes. Love the way it ends. "Lullaby For Lucifer" opens with the sounds of seagulls and waves. Nice. Acoustic guitar and reserved vocals the rest of the way.

This is one of those albums where it really boils down to your taste. I can understand the 3 star ratings as well as the 5 star ratings. For me this is closer to 3.5 stars even though it's so well done.