ALLEGRO
Allegro (Megahard Records) 2001
1. "Thy Valse Wicked"
(1:02)
2. "Enigma" (4:32)
3. "Stormy Nights" (4:16)
4. "Fragile Life" (3:47)
5. "Third Millennium" (4:24)
6. "Sweet AS Wine, Holy As Blood" (5:15)
7. "Peace of Mind" (3:07)
8. "Self Destruction" (5:15)
9. "As One We'll Survive" (5:28)
10. "Lacrima Christi" (2:29)
11. "The Betrayer's Song" (4:38)
Yet another progressive/power metal band out of Brazil. Megahard is really beginning to crank out a lot of quality products in the last two years. I've actually had this Allegro disc for a few months before posting this review because I wanted to live with it a while and see what I thought after the initial, new disc excitement wore off. This may sound a bit trite, but Allegro remind me of a heavier, darker version of fellow Brazillian prog-metallers Angra. The songs are dynamic with lots of variety within each song. After a short intro, the band blazes into "Enigma" a heavy speed metal number with Ilton's clean vocals wailing over the top. "Stormy Nights" slows it down a bit and has a more classic metal feel. "Fragile Life" picks up the pace again and reminded me slightly of Dream Theater. "Third Millennium" end with a wicked keyboard solo that I would have liked to have heard them drag the solo out a bit longer. Other tracks have the band adding in flutes (Peace of Mind") and narration ("The Betrayer's Song") to give the music a neo-classical feel. Lyrically, Allegro are as many other prog-bands, exploring ideas within spirituality and religion, but never really stating for a fact what they believe, although from what I can tell, Allegro's lyrics seem to be influence pretty heavily by the Christian faith.