Angra is about to release their tenth studio album, Cycles of Pain, this Friday, the 3rd. The new album addresses the theme of the cycles of human suffering and has a song with a positive message that did not please producer Dennis Ward .
In an exclusive interview and press conference held in São Paulo last Thursday, the 26th, attended by Wikimetal , the band discussed behind-the-scenes stories from the recording of the project, which was produced in Sweden.
According to guitarist Marcelo Barbosa , Ward had an unexpected reaction upon hearing the first version of the song "Here In The Now," whose official version features Brazilian singer Vanessa Moreno . Despite it being an early version of the track, what deeply bothered the producer wasn't the arrangement or sound, but the lyrical content. "When we got to Sweden to record, the producer listened and didn't like the song at all. It wasn't exactly like that yet, right? But it already had more or less that melody and harmony. Many of those elements were already there. And we were super disappointed because we liked the song," he said.
With a strong and catchy chorus, the song carries a more positive message within the theme of the album Cycles of Pain, with a call to "open your heart" and talks about "changing the world." "He didn't understand this thing about a positive message, he thought it was corny. He said, 'Hey, but who wants to hear about this, man, you guys are tripping.' He's Swedish, you know?" Marcelo continued. "An important detail is that he said he felt like vomiting when he heard this song, with those lyrics.".
The highly anticipated successor to Ømni (2018) will be released this Friday, November 3rd, the same day that Angra will present the album in its entirety in São Paulo. Learn more about the album launch show at Tokio Marine Hall here .
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