After their very promising first album 'Heaven's Demise' in 2019, the Portuguese of 'Glasya' released a new studio recording 'Attarghan'. Lovers of historical stories from films of the 60s and 70s, this new opus tells the story of Attarghan', a former army commander, who became a rebel, who leads the uprising of the people colonized by a pre-Persian empire and which becomes the main force of opposition to this empire. In my fist review, I compared their style with that of 'Nightwish' and I compared the mezzo-soprano 'Eduarda Soeiro' to 'Tarja' and this new album confirms this parallel with this historical narrative that alternates music and narration but still widens the range of influences.
After the narrated introduction 'Attarghan' which sets the scene for the story, the first title 'From Enemy to Hero' (see video above) offers us a first powerful title and we find 'Eduarda Soeiro' in duet with one of the singers of 'Temperance ', 'Marco Pastorino' who give us a remarkable vocal performance, then, 'Way to Victory' continues in this catchy symphonic metal with grandiose choirs and this composition offers memorable melodic lines. With 'Retaliation', we find the duet of the beginning in a heavier atmosphere with a marked rhythm then, the melodic and more measured 'First Taste of Freedom' sees the participation of 'Caterina Nix' which forms another very beautiful duo with Eduarda. Follows the Orientalizing 'Journey To Akhbar' (see the video here) which takes us on a very beautiful exotic journey with a bewitching melody, then 'Queen's Temptation' continues in this exotic and traditional atmosphere with a narration which is very well integrated into the music, something to emphasize because this process is not easy to make fluid in a concept album. The following titles continue to offer us different atmospheres and we can cite the epic 'Battle for Trust' with a magnificent guitar solo in the second part, the rhythmic 'The Sound Of 10,000 Feet Marching' with a marked tempo which makes account of this march of thousands of soldiers, the impetuous 'Within The Sandstorm' with its us growls which brings us back to 'Epica', the beautiful melancholy ballad 'We Weren't Meant To Be', 'Eye To Eye, Sword By Sword' with new oriental scents, the album ending with a grandiose 'A New Era Has Come' with generous choirs and a gripping melody, then with the short 'The Legend Lives On' with a narration accompanied by moving choirs.
In summary, the Portuguese of 'Glasya' confirm with their second album that they remain a very solid outsider of the major symphonic metal formations thanks to a well-stocked concept album and compositions with all the ingredients of this style which makes 'Attarghan' an album that should figure prominently in the collection of albums of all fans of symphonic metal... | |
