Hunters and Prey

Aside from the uninspiring Freedom Call EP of the band's early career, Hunters and Prey can't help but feel like a low point in Angra's pre-Lione discography. The 2002 release just seven months after the monumental Rebirth and is billed as a "mini-album"; with eight tracks that clock in at a combined total of over 38 minutes, it's far too long for an EP but falls short of the 50-minute mark all previous Angra full-length albums had surpassed.

I feel it's crucial to point out that Hunters and Prey was clearly not intended to meet the same rigorous standards Angra must have held themselves to when they created the four masterpieces that preceeded it. Only two of the songs ("Bleeding Heart" and the title track) are actually brand-new originals: the remaining six are two re-recorded old songs, two acoustic rehashes of Rebirth tracks, a Genesis cover, and a Portuguese version of the title track.

Hunters and Prey is very front-heavy, with the vast majority of worthwhile material packed into the first half. "Live and Learn" is a typical light-speed power metal shredfest, boasting one of the best first riffs in any Angra song. "Bleeding Heart" is a piano-driven ballad and one of the best of its kind. "Hunters and Prey" works well because of its somewhat-unconventional chord structure and oddly-upbeat vocal melodies.

It's the final four songs where the mini-album really begins to falter. The acoustic version of "Rebirth" is so true to the original that it's pretty much pointless; one of the best moments in the original song was when the distorted guitars kicked in, but that experience has been radically reduced for this version. Simultaneously, "Heroes of Sand" sounds almost unrecognizable at parts and seems like minimal effort or discretion was put into its acoustic adaptation. "Mama", one of only a few covers ever released by Angra, seems completely out of place with it's keyboard vamps and programmed drums.

Although I know Hunters and Prey should not be expected to hold a candle to albums like Angels Cry and Rebirth, I can't help but feel it's a mixed bag that is too inconsistent to appreciate as much as I would like to. If the tracklist had been arranged in such a way that the good songs had been evenly mixed in with the shortcomers instead of dividing them into halves, perhaps my opinion would be different. But seeing as Angra's lineup has always consisted of highly skilled musicians, and that the band already had a reputation for creating incredible songs and near-perfect albums, I can't help but feel that this mini-album fails to meet the expectations associated with the Angra name and does not flow very well as a release in general.

Best songs: "Live and Learn", "Bleeding Heart," and "Hunters and Prey"

After the huge sucess of the new line-up on the album Rebirth and many concerts worldwide, Angra decided to give a gift to the fans. And this gift comes as an EP named 'Hunters and Prey'. It was launched just 7 months after the release of Rebirth. It has 4 new songs, a cover, 2 acoustic songs and a video as an interactive track!

The first new song is 'Live and Learn'! It's a typical Angra song! It's fast, melodic, heavy and with a mind-blowing band performance! It starts with a great riff and then gets in the way we all like! Edu Falaschi's voice here is great, especially on the refrain! The solo in the middle of the song is jaw-dropping with Aquiles Priester's drums kicking some serious ass and some epic choirs giving an especial felling to the stuff!

The second one is a nice and beautiful ballad called "Bleeding Heart' which had been already released as a bonus track in the Japanese version of Rebirth. It's a song composed by the singer Edu, very emotional and full of felling.

The third new song it's very interesting. 'Hunters and Prey' is a mix of heavy metal with a Brazilian felling especially because of the percussions. It begins with a riff made with a latin atmosphere and after the drums come up you realize it's a melodic metal band! uhaha It's a nice and original song full of rythm variaties.

Then we have the fourth and last new song called 'Eyes of Christ'. It starts with an arrangement made by the guitars and keyboards. I would say it's a mix of melodic metal with hard metal and Edu shows us a great performance with clean voices, agressive high tones and vibratos. I especially liked the refrain in the second part of the song. Good job done by Edu.

Now we have an acoustic version of the song Rebirth from the last album. It follows the original song step by step but, of course, in an acoustic and softer way. Here it's shorter as the original song has a fast part during the solos with fast double-bass drums. Here they make a solo in that part and then come back to the refrain once again. Such a nice and cool version!

Now my favorite acoustic version! This one is a version of the song 'Heroes of Sand' also from the last album. They follow the original song as well step by step with no differences, except the fact they are using acoustic guitars, soft drums and Edu is singing in a calm and clean way. By the way, Edu's performance here is perfect. Great felling and great version!

Now we have the cover. Most of the bands use to choose songs from other famous metal bands. But Angra decided to make a version of 'Mama' from Genesis. The song has a bit, or nothing, of metal. Of course they used heavy guitars and the bass appears cleary here. Edu kicks ass in the end of the song with a strong and powerful voice and range showing what he can do. Nice version though a bit strange.

The last song is called 'Caça e Caçador' which is nothing more than 'Hunters and Prey' with Portuguese lyrics. The song is just the same, with no big differences. But they were clever enough to put some new additions, the mixing sounds a bit different too and the lyrics are in Portuguese. In my opinion this Portuguese version is much better than the English one. Especially because Edu's vocals. In the English version he had a good job but he sang in a cleaner way.

At last the interactive track. It's a video clip of the song 'Rebirth' (the original version from the last album). It was filmed in the biggest concert of the Rebirth tour in the Brazilian city São Paulo. This concert was all recorded in audio and video to be released as a dvd. So the fans have in this 'Rebirth' video a nice and great preview of the dvd. Moreover in this interactive track you have wallpapers and many pictures of the band on tour and in studio.