Almah - Edu Falaschi
Candlelight – CDL364 – July 17, 2007
By Ryan Starr
Almah is a pseudo super group featuring Edu Falaschi (
Angra), Emppu Vuorinen (
Nightwish), Lauri Porra (
Stratovarius), Casey Grillo (
Kamelot), and guest appearances from Mike Stone (
Queensryche), Edu Ardanuy (
Dr. Sin), and the
National Brazilian Gospel Choir. Looks like a pretty cool line up, right? Well, here’s the problem. The music isn’t a collaboration like you would expect. Everything is written by Falaschi. And unfortunately, his writing leaves a bit to be desired
Falaschi is a great vocalist, and his performance on this record is superb, but perhaps he needs to leave the rest of the music to the band. There are a couple good riffs, but everyone is bound to get lucky once in a while. But with the big names in this band, they could do so much better! None the less, the performances are solid. Lauri Porra does a good job on the bass, adding a bit of style to things. And his use of fretless bass makes the song
‘Forgotten Land’ almost bearable. Metal needs more fretless bass! Also, it seems like Emppu Vuorinen adds a bit of his own flair, specifically in the solos. But even with first rate solos, songs like
‘Scary Zone’ just kill this debut. There is no flow at all. It goes from a nu metal/tribal groove to a 90’s soft rock verse to a generic power metal chorus. Now if that description sounds weird to you, good, so will the song.
While the performances are good, this project suffers from a severe lack of quality writing and originality. Next time, I hope the entire band writes the music, not just Falaschi.
Official Almah Website
Official Candlelight Website
