Brazilian act Vandroya started life as a covers band, but as they became more involved in the metal scene they started writing their own material, which led to the ‘Within Shadows’ EP that was released in 2005. It took until 2010 for them to start work on their debut album, and until 2013 for it to be released. So, although it has taken a while to get to this point, now they have let’s all hope that they get the recognition they deserve. As is my preference, I played the album the first few times before I had read the press release and to my ears they sounded like a cross between Angra and Helloween with some Stratovarius thrown in for good measure. So, when I saw that they are countrymates of Angra then it started to make some sort of sense.
This is power metal, with elements of symphonic (and even some prog metal to be honest), and the guys are musicians of the top order and seem to be at their happiest when they can storm through a song in the manner of Dragonforce. Mind you, the break in the middle of “Within Shadows” is way more laid back with a great bass line and funky piano. But, what takes this band to the next level are the powerful vocals of Daisa who is an incredible singer. She has no problem standing loud and proud in front of a metal band, knowing that she is always totally in control of the situation and can handle whatever they are throwing into the mix. No matter if they are running along as if they are Helloween reborn, or if it is something slower, she is always there taking centre stage. But, this is very much a band effort with singer and musicians in perfect harmony creating some incredible metal. It is hard to realise that this is just a debut album, as it rarely gets much better than this. For more details visit www.vandroya.com .
