There is something ridiculously ambitious about ‘Vera Cruz’, the new solo album by former Angra singer Edu Falaschi. For starters, it is a concept album and despite the story being fictional, quite a bit of research has been done to make sure the circumstances are historically correct. Musically, ‘Vera Cruz’ is quite the production as well, as it is possibly the most bombastic release Falaschi ever was a part of. Choirs and programmed orchestras are all over the release, but it is first and foremost an excellent power metal record with the occasional influence from Brazilian folk and pop music.

After an absence caused in part by his own deteriorating voice, Falaschi made his return to the metal scene with a large-scale performance of Angra’s ‘Temple Of Shadows’ album, including a choir, an orchestra and former Angra drummer Aquiles Priester, who is also present here. ‘Vera Cruz’ appears to be aimed towards a similar audience, but since the songs are more streamlined, it is an overall more pleasant listen than ‘Temple Of Shadows’. Guitarists Roberto Barros and Diogo Mafra are notably less subtle players though and while that could prove annoying in the long run, they are actually two of the main attractions on ‘Vera Cruz’.

When the intro ‘Burden’ featured voice acting, I held on to my heart, but fortunately, ‘Vera Cruz’ is largely about the music. ‘The Ancestry’ is the opener anyone would want from a power metal album: it’s fast, full of great guitar work and it has a delightfully triumphant chorus. This formula is repeated several times across the album, with ‘Crosses’ as well as the slightly more proggy ‘Mirror Of Delusion’ and ‘Sea Of Uncertainties’ as the most successful results. It is here where you can see Falaschi’s voice is still in pretty good shape and the slightly awkwardly phrased and pronounced English does not quite stand out as much.

Ballads are always an obligation on albums Falaschi sings on, but apart from the far too kitschy ‘Skies In Your Eyes’, they are actually quite good this time around. When both approaches come together, the results are even better: ‘Land Ahoy’ starts out sounding like it will be a ballad carried by the nylon string acoustic guitar, but after the halfway mark, it becomes a great prog epic. Interestingly, the duets that should be the selling points of the record arrive at the end of the album. ‘Rainha Do Luar’ is a heartfelt duet with hugely famous Brazilian forró queen Elba Ramalho, while Sepultura’s Max Cavalera pushes ‘Face Of The Storm’ towards delightfully aggressive territory.

Nothing about ‘Vera Cruz’ should work as well as it does. Everything from the lyrics to the arrangements and the production style should under normal circumstances end up sounding horribly contrived, but with songs this well-written and a group of people working on it as a true labor of love, it turns out to be a surprisingly good power metal album. Definitely the best album Falaschi has been involved with post-‘Aurora Consurgens’. If he can keep this particular group of musicians together, he might have another couple of good albums up his sleeve.

Recommended tracks: ‘The Ancestry’, ‘Land Ahoy’, ‘Crosses’