SCELERATA — The Sniper (review)

Album · 2012 · Power Metal

4/5 · 2012-11-25
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The Sniper is the third full-length studio album by Brazilian power metal act Scelerata. It was released in 2012. Scelerata haven’t released an album since 2008’s Skeletons Domination and on The Sniper the Brazilians return with a new line-up having parted ways with singer Carl Casagrande and brought in new frontman Fabio Juan. The Sniper also features a couple of notable guest vocal talents, much like their debut Darkness and Light (2006) had (now former) Angra/Almah vocalist Edu Falaschi and Shaman’s Thiago Bianchi, The Sniper has both Paul Di'Anno (ex-Iron Maiden) and Andi Deris (Helloween). The guest vocalists have also been involved in the writing process.

For the most part The Sniper will treat you to a brand of guitar driven power metal that, although power metal’s melody aspect is present and correct, also has an extra layer of aggression that eliminates much of what could be considered cheesy by the genre’s detractors. I’d say at times where there are more aggressive vocals the music even pushes towards thrash metal. But most of time a fair comparison would be to place The Sniper in the same camp as the work of guest vocalist Andi Deris’ band Helloween (power metal pioneers, on the off chance you’re reading this and didn’t know). Scelerata represent a classic power metal sound in other words.

However they do take things a little further than just following the blueprint on The Sniper. There are parts to the album which can also be considered progressive. The closing title track is the most prime example of this, as the band makes their way through an almost ten minute duration to result in the best and most creative track on the album. There’s no better way to close a great record than like that in my opinion, although overall I can’t say that The Sniper is the most impressive of power metal albums I’ve come across, but it is clearly the work of a bunch of talented guys who on The Sniper sound like they’re only just scratching the surface of what they’re capable of. The title track shows that, with its progressive nature and symphonic elements, and it only takes this one song to make it clear to me that while Scelerata are a more than competent power metal band, there’s so much potential for them to be an even better progressive power metal band, and I for one would love to hear the results of what they’d come up with if they followed that direction in the future.

With several highlights on offer, including that title track, the lead guitar dominate Unmasking Lies and naturally those collaborations with Di'Anno (Rising Sun, In My Blood) and Deris (Must Be Dreaming), The Sniper has plenty to offer the power metal fan and since the album does more than enough to set itself apart from the sea of acts out there, it’s most definitely also worth checking out by anyone with any sort of interest in metal music. A great album tier rating is deserved for The Sniper, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Scelerata somewhere down the line blow this out of the water to give bands like Angra some stiff competition for the crown of kings of Brazilian power metal.

82/100

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven (http://metaltube.freeforums.org))