This is the fourth cd by the Brazilian heavy metal band, Liar Symphony. It’s taken nine years in coming, but was well worth the wait.
The album opens with the impressive ‘Welcome’. A bit of an acoustic and keyboard introduction, it leads into a very energetic bout of drumming and a catchy series of riffs and some powerful singing. There’s imaginative use of harmonics and an exciting guitar solo near the end of the track. A good start. The opening riff to track 2, ‘Self Destruction’ immediately grabs the attention. There’s good support from bassist Marcos Brandao and the vocals by Nuno Monteiro are full of feel and emotion. It’s quite a dark song about people accepting the actions of unjust rulers / leaders. Next up is ‘Sleeping Dead’, with its jerky time signature intro, leading to another heavy riff. It’s about the soul living on after the body is destroyed. The keyboards add a good backdrop to the guitar work. Again, there’s plenty of tempo and mood changes in the tune. I enjoyed the guitar solo and the melodies in this track. There’s some nice bass lines here too.
‘The Fool’ is one of the heavier tracks on the CD. Another good opening guitar riff with some hammer-down drumming by Anderson Alarca. Monteiro’s vocals have an effective air of desperation. There’s a great mid section with interplay between guitar and drumming. I would have liked the guitar solos to be a little higher in the mix and leap out and grab you a little harder but they sound impressive nonetheless.Track 5, ‘Waste Land’ has a moody start, before another catchy riff by Pedro Esteves takes the song on. More well delivered, dark lyrics, this time about our dying planet! Nice harmonics, use of the wah-wah peddle, manic drumming and tempo changes. Nice one. ‘Digital Living’ has an apt keyboard intro. With some lively drumming and heavy riffing. “Watch out you may become a digital living dead” is sung with menace and feeling. There’s more exciting riffing and guitar histrionics, as ever.
The opening riff to ‘After years’ is well backed by some subtle keyboard parts, and there’s some good interplay between keys and guitar. ‘When Sunlight Dies’ has a similar feel to ‘Waste Land’. This time it looks like human kind is a goner! Oops! Another good track, there’s a good vocal range and feel in evidence with the singing and music. ‘Born Again’ is more hopeful. It’s another well constructed song, with plenty of feeling and atmosphere. There are hints of fellow Brazilians, Angra,in parts of this entertaining track. ‘Where The Wind Blows’ slows it all down for a while. This track highlights the impressive vocal range of Monteiro. Very dramatic, especially the drumming, with plenty of keyboards and a long, melodic guitar solo. ‘Prisoner In The Mirror’ has good keyboard and guitar interplay, at the beginning and end of the track and there’s more lively drumming here alongside well delivered vocals. There’s a really moody little solo, before the track gets really heavy.
The cd closes with ‘The Lament’, a short outro thing. I liked the subtle harmonics and it proved a fitting end to the CD. Having heard some of Liar Symphony’s earlier stuff on You Tube, I feel this cd is a big step in the right direction for the band. It’s heavy, better produced (still wanted most solos higher in the mix!), and with better songs. Over all ‘Before the End’ is a really good cd and well recommended.
Review by By Chris Greenwood
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