Metal Shock Finland (World Assault )

TITLE: ORIGINS
BAND: SHAMAN
YEAR: 2010
LABEL: Scarlet Records/Audioglobe

After the good response of the previous album Immortal, Ricardo Confessori‘s Shaman come back to double the success with this new Origins. I have to admit I was really curious to listen to this new album since I really loved “Immortal” and the new course of the brazilian band. One of the few bad things about the last “Immortal” was its lenght, because in my opinion it last not so much and I recognized a lot of good ideas and atmospheres so I wanted more songs and more music. Seriously I got this new album with a big big smile and after a lot of listening I’m here to write something.
First of all the new Shaman line up confirms to be absolutely good and very well skilled so in this album you will find a perfect musical performance and the writing path is the same of the previous Immortal.
Thiago Bianchi, the new singer, confirms to be an incredible screamer able to change easily from incredibly high pitched clean vocals to medium and angry ones while there are not so many words to spend for the powerful and precise drumming of Ricardo Confessori. In this album, as the previous one, Confessori choses a more direct and power metal oriented style, differently from what he plays in Angra…yes, Angra his other band…but we will tell something about this further…

The new lineup is completed by the guitar virtuoso Leo Mancini and by the very good bassist Fernando Quesada.
Something strange is about the keyboards parts because they’re played by a guest but they are not a minor add so I wonder why they not include the keyboard player as a full member in the band.
This new album starts with a curious intro called Origins (The day I died) and we can hear the hard breath of a man escaping from something while there’re many forest sounds and some ethnic instruments, something that reminded me the black smoke monster of Lost eheh:) After a drums fill in during the intro the first song Lethal Awakening explodes with its double bass kick drums and with the fast guitar work of Leo Mancini. Thiago Bianchi shows all his vocal range in this song, with a very very high pitched chorus while Fernando Quesada creates a very complex and precise bass line.
The second song Inferno Veil shows us a more heavy version of Shaman, with some thrashy drums and guitars. I don’t think this is the best song of the new album but it’s for sure a nice one and permit to everyone in the band to show his heavier side! Rain, wind and again the ethnic instruments are the main characters of the next Ego Part 1, short song where we can find only the voice of Thiago Bianchi and the acoustic guitar of Leo Mancini. Suddenly it’s time for the second part of this song called…well..Ego Part 2 eheh 🙂 One of the best of this album for who is writing here 🙂
I really liked the different mood of the song and the work of all the musicians. As before Bianchi reaches the highest vocal peaks of his voice and the guitar and bass lines are absolutely convincing! The drumswork mixes classic power metal double bass parts with more ethnic rythms. The chorus is a explosion of melody that will be nailed to your mind from the very first listening. If we consider the two Ego ‘s songs as not as one single one all the songs of this Origins are not very long, never reaching the six minutes of lenght. Personally I liked this choice to make the album easier to listen and more direct than the very long suites that sometimes we find, also if the very long suite is a charming idea.
The next Finally Home is another great song in my opinion which mixes Angra’s and Shaman heritages with an amazing result. I found the chorus very impressive and very expressive of the new Shaman course. Rising Up To Life is introduced by a sad piano arpeggio and shows again how good is Thiago Bianchi and how he’s a perfect singer for Shaman’s music. The song is a good ballad but where nothing that wasn’t present in this album is shown. It doesn’t convince me too much and in my opinion also if well done it’s the only skip song of the album.
With the next No Mind it’s time for more power and the song its really great! A very heavy riff introduces a fast song with an amazing Bianchi’s performance. It’s very interesting the contrast between the low pitched verses and the opening bridges followed by a killer chorus! The solos show how good is Leo Mancini as guitarplayer, with a very precise and fancy playing!
It’s time for the next song with Blind Messiah, where the beginning is lead by the acoustic guitar and by the voice of Thiago Bianchi to grow into a progressive song with pompous orchestrations and brazilian rythmics. An interesting song with many different influences and again I wonder why the keyboards player hasn’t been credited as a full member since he plays not only the orchestrations but also a piano solo in this song. This is not a bad song of course but maybe it doesn’t add anything to what we have listened until now in this album.
The last song for the regular version of this album is called S.S.D. which is the acronym for Signed, Sealed and Delivered, an acoustic song that reminded to me something from the previous album Immortal, maybe like the introduction of the song In The Dark. The song finishes at about 3.40 then there are two minutes of sounds like the wind, rain and stuff like that to arrive at a keyboards riff that finishes the song. It’s quite a strage finale for sure…
For the special edition there’s another song called Kurenai, from the cult band X Japan!  The song is really amazing and Shaman are perfectly skilled and inspirated to make this a killer song in Origins! Surely japanese fans won’t be disappointed about this! 😀
The production of Origins is a little better than Immortal and sounds are more defined and “wide” while the previous album was more narrowed and sometimes quite “boxy”. I really like the new course of Shaman and this Origins brings the band to a new level…so what’s the problem? Well, now that Ricardo Confessori is back in Angra’s lineup it’s hard to know what future we can expect from Shaman. I’d not really like to see Shaman disbanded for a lack of motivation from their members. It’s really hard to figure out what will happen but maybe things will be solved by a lineup adjustment at the drums to have a full exclusive drummer free to dedicate all his time to Shaman.
So Origins is an interesting album, which confirms all the good things about Shaman return’s lineup, and about the new musical direction. Now we have to wait to see what will happen with Ricardo Confessori and if he will decide to dedicate himself only to Angra I really hope Shaman won’t stop. Who loves Power Metal won’t be disappointed by this album!! Buy it!

RATE: 8

1. Origins (the Day I Died)
2. Lethal Awakening
3. Inferno Veil
4. Ego Pt. 1
5. Ego Pt. 2
6. Finnaly Home
7. Rising Up Your Life
8. No Mind
9. Blind Messiah
10. Signed, Sealed And Delivered
11. Kurenai (X japan cover – Bonus Track)

Reviewed by Giulio “July” Capone