Edu Falaschi
Moonlight

Brazilian vocalist Edu Falaschi has been making music for quite a while, a quarter of a century to be precise. That is something he celebrates by releasing his debut solo album Moonlight, an album featuring songs from his collaborations with Angra and his present band Almah – songs that has been rearranged into a more classical style. The artwork is very impressive; the question is whether or not the music inside this artwork is as impressive.

Musically it is classical music driven by piano and string arrangements. Nine tracks all known from the past but in different guises, not much variation over 40 minutes of music and one would be forgiven for thinking that it is a bit on the long side as the tracks sound very similar to one another. The production is excellent, the sound is flawless and Edu sings really well – I think he doesn’t make a fool of himself with this album even though some metal fans might think it is a bit dull. It is easy to conclude that the performance and production is excellent.

When it comes to the end result it is different though, the album feels pretty boring and tired. Perhaps the 25 years has taken its toll, doesn’t Edu look tired on the video to Nova Era? Not only that, he also confirms the stereotype that metallers lack style – you can learn a lot from a video it seems. That song is quite good by the way and the only thing that stands out a little from an otherwise very stale album without any variation, though that might just be down to that being the first track of the album and I just hadn’t had time to get bored yet. I am not dissing this album completely, I just think that it is a strange curiosity to celebrate 25 years with and feels more like it could have been a bonus disk on something that is more interesting and far less tired.

I have already alluded to the fact that I think the opening track Nova Era is the only worthwhile song on the album, the rest of it is too tired for me and fails to grab my attention. Perhaps fans of Almah or Angra sees it differently as they may have more relation to the songs but it is difficult to see that even them would really enjoy a collection of practically the same song repeating eight times following a good opening track. Anyway, congratulations to Edu, his accomplishment is impressive and he is a good vocalist, I just wish he did something more interesting to commemorate the occasion – even though a collection of acoustic classic versions of favourite songs is a great idea, in theory.

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