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Rafael Bittencourt – Brainworms I
by Rafael Nery Track List
Rafael Bittencourt is already recognized as one of the biggest names of Heavy Metal due to the success as a guitar player for Angra which since the releasing of their first album, Angels Cry in 1993, has been reaching a huge audience inside and outside Brazil. Now the guitarist goes even further and releases his first solo album named Bittencourt Project – Brainworms I which besides featuring several well known musicians also introduces Rafael as a lead singer. The Album starts with Dedicate my Soul which brings powerful riffs and synth keyboards which take us to the Prog Metal mood. The melody line added to Rafael’s powerful voice show us a clear influence from the 80’s which due to this several elements make it sound unique. Holding Back the fire sounds Hard Rock in the beggining, but as soon as we go through the track we can find elements which affirm the characteristcs well explored in his work with Angra. It’s very interesting, because Hard Rock tends to sound much more north american and on this track (mainly on the last chords) we can see a brazilian accent which only a musician with a huge background could add. Torment of Fate has a reflexive lyrics which shows a peculiar side of the songwriter which besides the initial Tango shows a pretty interesting Riff which flirts between swing and heaviness. Effects also complete the track with a century XXI touch.
The ballad The Dark Side of Love makes Rafael to sign in a lower register resulting in a pretty Nice melody. Something always essential to a slow song. Nightflty brings a psychodelic side and the composer again flirts brazillian ideas with elements from other styles such as the guitar effects in Jimmy Hendrix style and the initial choirs which despite of the english lyrics sounds perfectly like a typical brazillian song sung by a popular choir. The traditional heaviness of Heavy Metal comes back and this time full of dissonances in The Underworld which talks about the destiny of manking and can work as a big “wake up” for us. Faded comes after with a big change of styles which actually is not a problem, but the highest point of the album, the melody on this track has a pretty strong mottive which is explored with wisdom. Santa Teresa features a Viola Caipira (typical brazilian instrument) as highlight and also features a pretty much modal melody in the beggining. The rhythymic patterns once more point to the typical elements of Angra which have always been the characteristics of the group. The Heavy Metal version for O Pastor written originally by the group Madresdeus is full of daring , courage, and creativity to know which elements of the song would perfectly fit in Heavy Metal, the counterpoint in the beggining is incredible played and make us get in the right spirit to the audition of this piece. The new version of Comendo Melancia ( Featuring his ex-band mate and responsible for the drums on the first Record of thing song, Ricardo Confessori) which had already been released in collectanea of Cover Guitarra, sounds pretty good and brings different tones and pretty interesting phrases, even the electric guitar is not that focus on this CD is on that Track that Rafael shows his side as a guitar player. Primeiro amor also brings his side as instrumentist, but focused on nylon electric guitar, the theme is pretty beautiful and sounds extremly brazilian. It worths mention the awesome perfomance. Nacib Véio (Written originally in Holy Land times) was released as Bonus Track and shows us a fun side of Rafael ( Also features Ricardo Confessori on the drums) and goes through different styles. Ideal for this kind of track which always sounds like something additional to the whole context. Once again Rafael Bittencourt seems to be one of the most talented musicians in Brazil and present his fans with a new album. More information on: www.rafaelbittencourt.com
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