Almah - Motion

The boys from Brazil do what they do best - shred the hell out of some great metal tunes.I am always pleased when I see that a new Almah CD is released, since they're one of those bands that fly off the radar until new product comes around. The band is the brain child of Angra vocalist Eduardo Falaschi, and Motion marks the 3rd release of a band that really has it all: great songs, great melody and - of course - kick-ass guitars. The twin-axe attack of guitarists Marcello Barbosa and Paulo Schrober is to die for; these cats rip it up on this disc (check out the solo on Bullets on the Altar for a little Cacophony-esque type shreddage)! The coolest thing about this music is that many of these songs would hold up as instrumentals because the axe-work is so amazing.  To top it off, you have the killer vocals of Falaschi to bring everything together.

Motion is nicely varied, featuring classic power metal tunes as well as heavier tracks that lean towards the death metal genre: check out the brutal track Zombies Dictator to hear what I mean. It's a machine gun pummeling track that will leave a chill in your spine and a crick in your neck. Like the past two releases, this one picks up where the previous one left off while bringing it up a notch. The musicianship on this record is amazing.  I like this direction.  A solid release from start to finish!

The Bottom Line: Almah stepping it up a notch, getting a little heavier.  Shred-heads will wet themselves after listening to this release.

Standout Tracks: Bullets on the Altar, Days of the New,  Trac of Trait and Daydream Lucidity

- Ragman hasn't air-guitared this hard in years (I think the tips of my fingers are bleeding!)