Here we have Angra's new double live album Rebirth World Tour Live in Sao Paulo. This time around we are treated to a ninety eight minute complete show instead of the brief thirty minute platter we got when Holy Live was released. With the huge glut of live albums coming out (just look at some of my past reviews) is Angra's contribution worth your time and money? I'd say it is.

The sound on here is crystal clear and really comes across as being live especially in the vocals. The vocals seem to have a reverb / echo type of thing found in actual venues, instead of the ultra slick studio sound found on some live albums. ie Live Insurrection This production quality greatly enhances the experience and comes across as genuinely authentic. On to the music... Nova Era kicks off the show and its speedy, energetic melodies get your attention very quickly. Acid Rain follows, its driving midtempo rhythm and huge epic sound work as a good contrasting companion to the high speed Nova Era. Next is the title song from their debut album Angel's Cry. Does Edu pull off the old songs as good as Andre did? A definite YES from this reviewer. In fact while I loved the original Angra lineup, I think that that Edu, Aquiles, and Felipe are the best things to happen to the band ever. Back to the song, Edu can hit all the notes that Andre can, and the smoothness of his voice lends a new side to the classic songs and they seem refreshing, "reborn" if you will. The emotional and brilliant Heroes of Sand is next and brings the pace down a bit and gives the listener a chance to catch their breath. A moving and touching song, Heroes goes down perfectly live with the crowd interaction and the band feeding off their energy. Speaking of crowd interaction in Metal Icarus there is a lengthy "woaaaa ohh" segment. That sounds like it would get real annoying really fast but in reality it adds to the whole live atmosphere, I personally dont like it when all the crowd interaction is cut from a live album. It's back to the Rebirth album with Millenium Sun and the live rendition is very faithful to the studio version. Next is one of Angra's biggest hits ever, Make Believe. It is a real treat to hear this song live, and once again Edu shows his range and his power and his emotive inflection with his singing here and makes you forget Andre Matos was ever in the band. After the stellar Make Believe is the only dull moment on this album a five minute drum solo. When I saw Angra in Atlanta, they did something very unique and different, they all busted out with different percussive instruments such as steel drums, bongos, and other such things that I have no idea what they're called. Anyways what Im trying to say is that at Prog Power III the usual obligatory, boring drum solo was in fact very entertaining and I was hoping they would do that on here but alas its just a standard drum solo. I'm glad its the last track on disc one so I can skip it.

Disc two begins with the epic Unholy Wars followed by Rebirth. Both are almost exactly like the studio versions, dont take that as a bad thing though, as they are still very much enjoyable and do not get skipped over. A different choice for a song is next Time from Angel's Cry and on here during the percussive like verses, Edu manages to imitate Andre almost exactly. Odd. Other than that little quirk, it comes off as well done and entertaining. Running Alone follows and with some added soaring high notes from Edu its no doubt as to why its one of my favorite songs off of Rebirth. Well now we come to the encores, the absolute cream of the crop, Angra's signature songs. After the wait of Crossing the intro to Nothing to Say comes blasting out of my speakers and Edu Falaschi is singing like a GOD. Really, he just lets everything go and sings as if his life was depending on it, just listen to the line "Living forevermore / Living today / Oh what remains I've got / Nothing To Say" I get chills everytime I hear that. I knew he was a tremendous singer but on here and the next track Carry On he has been placed in the upper echelons of singers that I admire. You really have to hear it to believe it. I don't know if it might be because these two songs are Angra trademarks and he feels he has to prove himself or what but he is just simply put, incredible and mindblowing on these two songs. The final song for the night is a surprising cover of Iron Maiden's Number of the Beast. It sounds odd hearing Edu on here but he fits the style surprisingly well. The bands take on this classic is a ripping fun version, you can almost see the guys running around with huge smiles on their faces and headbanging. A good closer to an excellent show.

I am a live album junkie and this, constant readers is a damn fine live album. It has everything you can ask for, a very tight and excellent live band, a great selection of songs, songs that stay true to the studio versions and songs that go off on tangents. The production is an authentic live sound and there are many "hey hey hey" parts and like I said earlier, these add to the whole live atmosphere, if you dont like stuff like that then thats what the studio albums are for. I must also comment on the packaging. The booklet is very thick with !!lyrics!! (a rarity for live albums) and tons of photos of the band on and off stage, its obvious alot of time and effort went into this album. If you are an Angra fan this is an absolute must have, if you have never heard of Angra then Rebirth World Tour - Live in Sao Paulo is as good a place to start as any.