Artist: ALMAH [ANGRA]
Album: ALMAH (CD)

Release date: 2007
Media type: CD

Angra’s vocalist Edu Falaschi has recorded his first solo album. The project is called “Almah” and it relies not only on Edu’s talents as a singer, songwriter, arranger and producer but also on the likes of drummer Casey Grillo (Kamelot), guitarist Emppu Vuorinen (Nightwish) and bassist Lauri Porra (Stratovarius). Almah has participations of several guest musicians, such as Mike Stone (Queensrяche’s guitar player) and Edu Ardanuy (Dr. Sin’s guitar player), among many others, and was mixed in Brazil by producer Adriano Daga. Daga has worked with many artists during his winning career, including Lenny Kravitz and Silverchair. He’s been awarded a Grammy in 2005.

Edu Falaschi wrote all the songs and lyrics of the album and recorded all keyboards and acoustic guitar parts by himself. Furthermore Edu came up with the guitar, bass, drums, keyboards, vocal and orchestral arrangements. According to him, this was his main motivation when figuring the new project out: “It’s a completely new experience. I was able to fully explore my creative sides as a songwriter, lyricist, arranger and producer”, he said.

Musically, Edu says that, even though the “songs are pretty different from each other”, the album is not too far away from the heavy metal genre that’s made him a successful artist worldwide. “My main goal when doing this album was coming up with something that would not focus that much on the individual musicians, but rather in the music itself.” He believes the Almah repertoire will work live pretty well too. “After all, we’re talking about songs with amazing choruses and exciting harmonies. I would say the melodies are really emotional and build an extremely positive atmosphere.” Furthermore, Almah revolves around a very specific concept. “It discusses our feelings basically”, says the singer. Almah is a so-called universe with a lot of different worlds, namely our feelings. Therefore, each person ‘inhabits’ and grows in his own world. To put it simply, some inhabit the world of greed, others the world of courage, hatred, love and so on. This is what defines the personalities of each one of us.”

Each song from the album refers to a particular emotion. In order to illustrate that, Edu Falaschi approached different situations that were directly influential to the paths of history. “I am not willing to resume a historical study of humanity. I’d rather focus on why these feelings occur and what leads human beings into the reactions to them.” Edu also explains the true meaning behind the word ‘almah’. “In Portuguese, the word is instantly linked to the Portuguese term for ‘soul’, which is ‘alma’. The soul is the truest thing that emanates from one’s inner self. And that’s exactly the meaning of this project. As for the actual meaning of ‘almah’, some scholars say it means ‘purity’ or ‘virginity’ in Hebrew. Others sustain it actually stands for ‘malice’ or ‘perversion’, though. Anyway, this is the duality that inhabits everybody’s actual existence, two sides that form the whole, ourselves. The soul.”

TRACKLIST:

01. KING
02. TAKE BACK YOUR SPELL
03. FORGOTTEN LAND
04. SCARY ZONE
05. CHILDREN OF LIES
06. BREAK ALL THE WELDS
07. GOLDEN EMPIRE
08. PRIMITIVE CHAOS
09. BREATHE
10. BOX OF ILLUSION
11. ALMAH



LINE-UP:

Edu Falaschi (Angra) - Vocals
Emppu Vuorinen (Nightwish) - Guitar
Lauri Porra (Stratovarius) - Bass
Casey Grillo (Kamelot) - Drums