EYES OF SHIVA – Eyes Of Soul

From Brazil comes Power/Progressive Metal rookies Eyes of Shiva, and this was definitely a pleasant encounter. With a kind of Prog Metal-meets-South American folk music feel, at times reminiscent of Angra, at times of Rhapsody, this band has produced a very impressive debut album.

Singer and pretty-boy Andre Ferrari, guitarists, and pretty-boys 2 and 3, respectively, Ricardo Gil and Renato Mendes, bassist (p-b 4) Gustavo Boni, and drummer (p-b 5) Ricardo Longhi, are all excellent musicians, and throughout the albums there are legato lines, sweep arpeggios, two-hand bass tapping and Mike Portnoy-drum beats aplenty. Longhi and Ferrari are the prettiest, though (by the way Ferrari also possesses one of the most impressive Power Metal voices heard lately.)

The production, courtesy of Pink Cream 69’s Dennis Ward, is also very good, and then it all comes down to the songwriting. Luckily the band excels in that department too, and presents a good variety of interesting music. The folk music influence is pretty strong throughout, and definitely adds to the music. Songs like “Lampiao” and the title track are definitely strengthened by this element. The title track is among the album’s highlights, along with “Eagle of the Sun,” “Psychos of the New Millenium” (definitely an ingenious song title…), “World Tomorrow,” and “Just A Miracle.” These tracks present speed, melody, and instrumental skills in perfect balance … exactly how Power Metal is supposed to sound.

A possible criticism is that the band’s strong emphasis on the choruses puts the rest of the song down – “Eagle…” is an example of a song where the chorus bears the entire track – but this can probably be blamed on the fact that this is a debut album. The album’s ballads are also quite good – neither “Pride” nor the Heart cover “Alone” will ever stand as highlights in the history of music, but they both work well. All in all, there’s no reason why this album should not be the start of a brilliant career in the Metal industry, the boys seem to have it all down already.