Founded in the early 2014 as a Symphonic Metal project, Vocalist Michelle Rodovalho and bassist Matheus Maia orchestrated the Brazilian Symphonic Metal band, Perpetual Legacy. The duo eventually went on recruiting the rest of the members and got guitarist Bruno Souza, keyboardist Rafael Lobo and drummer Gabriel Pedroso joined the ranks. The newly formed group started working on their debutant album, “A New Symphony for Him” which was released in the fall of 2015 under the record label Metal Survivor.
The Band list Epica, Nigthwish and After Forever as some of its influences and is abundantly clear that their music although inspired is crisp and ingenious. The female lead vocals trademarks or rather stereotypes the symphonic metal genre as we know. But the inventive and progressive song arrangements on their debut album clearly adds more flavour to the genre and gives it a new dimension. A very modern yet folk sound is heard on deeper listening. Did I mention the bands love for Jesus Christ? Oh yes this is Christian Symphonic Metal that we are talking about.
The album opens with an instrumental song “Lost In Darkness” as it marks the onset of a spiritual heavy metal ride. It almost sounds like a movie score and closes out to start “Looking For The Endless Light”. The tempo of the album picks up with this song, and we are introduced to the beautiful voice of Michelle, the verses go hand in hand with the guitar chops, the melodic keys that are heard in the background gives the song a very gothic element. Michelle holds her voice well and has a pretty impressive tone.
The song writing on “Inside Your Secret Chest” is a little less impressive but it makes it up by delivering a mind boggling guitar solo and a catchy chorus. The choir like elements on this song is the bands ingenious and definition sound. The bands true love for Jesus Christ can be felt in “A beautiful Truth” which has plenty of mellow and heavy bits, be it the beautiful piano intro and the interlude or the heartfelt guitar solo, this song is full of passion and love.
“A new symphony for Him” is one of the fast paced songs on the album, and has a very catchy guitar riff. There is absolute power in the song (the double bass rumbles and the guitars shreds) Michelle steals the show when she takes on the mike and adds maturity. With “Metonym” the band has delivered a heart wrenching and splendid ballad, the song is carried out throughout on piano and viola and culminates with a power guitar solo, a tremendous display of talent and power.
“Kairos in Aeternum” is my favourite track on the album, this has all the splendour and grandiosity. Be it the chorus which has an orchestra like feel to it, or the heavy palm muted guitars, or the power packed Vocals or the beautiful guitar riff. This song testifies that Perpetual Legacy may just change the way we perceive Symphonic metal.
With progressive and heavy songs like “Our Pride” , “Singing forever” and “Blood tears” having plenty of interludes and choir like chorus, one thing is for sure there is no dearth of talent and beautiful music here.
The last treat for the listeners’ is “I looked up high” which starts off with a beautiful the organ piece (transported me to a scene from the movie “Interstellar”) and just before I could get lost, pulled me right back in to the song with its heavy guitar shreds and the double bass pedals. Towards the end of the song I heard a bass solo augmented with a Piano solo, which was a treat for my ears.
Production – The production on this album was pretty good as at all times all the instruments could be heard. The song structures were complex although the song writing needs time to mature.
Conclusion – This album was nothing less than a joy to listen to and review. Perpetual Legacy definitely has left their mark with their debut album and must be subscribed to for future.
Rating: 8/10
Written by: Ankit Sood
Band Members:
Michelle Rodovalho – Lead Vocals
Bruno Souza – Guitars
Rafael Lobo – Keyboards
Matheus Maia – Bass
Gabriel Pedroso – Drums
Track List:
01. Lost In Darkness (1:00)
02. Looking For The Endless Light (4:34)
03. Inside Your Secret Chest (5:08)
04. A Beautiful Truth (4:12)
05. A New Symphony For Him (5:12)
06. Metonym (5:58)
07. Karros In Afternoon (4:09)
08. Our Pride (5:47)
09. Singing Forever (6:49)
10. Blood Tears (4:31)
11. I Looked Up High (5:35)
Record Label: Independent, Sept. 2015
Weblinks: Facebook
Buy the album here:
Holland: First Paradox
Norway: Nordic Mission
Video below: ‘Looking For The Endless Light’
Video below: ‘A New Symphony For Him’