METAL JAM - THE PRAYER - 2004

Sometimes a first impression says enough. Sometimes it does not. A band that calls itself Metal Jam is not revealing right away what there is to expect. After the short After Forever like opening of ‘Illusions’ the Brazilians turn to prog metal with a unique guitar sound. It’s not long before some atmospheric passages are built in, forming a nice contrast with the many riffs and whining keyboards.

Iron Maiden, Helloween, Dream Theater and Scandinavian flavours are all detectable in Metal Jam’s style, quite remarkable for a South American band. The chosen bandname is appropriate therefore. I think I will need the rest of this year to get to know this album but that isn’t a punishment at all. The inventive musicians, who aren’t afraid of experimenting and the vocal achievements of Fabio Almeida form a nice package to ‘unwrap’. In the instrumental parts it’s clear that the Dream Theater men Petrucci and Portnoy have had quite some influence on guitarist Luiz Oliveira and drummer Fernando Marques but in a good way. When you come across this album take a listen and scan the whole cd, a first impression isn’t enough.
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