Vandroya
Beyond the Human Mind

Brazilian Vandroya returns with their second album called Beyond the Human Mind, an album that arrives four years after the debut One and they released their debut EP in 2005. They seem to have done something of a mark with their debut and their new album has also received some praise from several reviewers around the interweb. And it is a fairly impressive release with good strong vocals, catchy songs and impressive production.

It is female fronted power metal with progressive underdone and strong melodies. Great vocals I should point out. 53 minutes of songs that are mostly fast and catchy ones, some ballad and a long progressive ending epic title track to spice it all up. No surprises from a musical standpoint and I wouldn’t claim that their musical creativity goes beyond the human mind. But they are great musicians and they have put together a really strong production even though it is a bit on the long side from my standpoint. I compared them in the similar bands to other female fronted bands of a similar disposition but I also think that we can compare them with some of their countrymen like Angra or Almah to name a pair.

I would claim that this is a good production and a good album with good songs. None of the songs stands out above the others, they work well all of them but I would claim that the album is missing one or two really strong hit songs that makes you stop and take notice. I think they walk down paths too well travelled and they should have tried to make something a bit more of their own, try to find their own path through the musical landscape. Perhaps that is difficult for a band who started out making covers of stuff they liked, but that was a long time ago so they should have had sufficient time to come up with something a bit more of their own by now.

Nevertheless, I think it is an album that is worth checking out for those who like the similar bands or the other bands mentioned in this review. It may not be a standout album but good enough to have a look at. But personally I think that this album is a tad on the mediocre side and find a bit of a shame that musicians of this calibre waste their talent on music that isn’t particularly exciting. My lasting feeling about Vandroya’s new album is that it should have been better.

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