Less than one year after their solid debut "Sandstorm", the eastern metal quartet 'Medjay' from Minas Gerais(Brazil) was already preparing its second album, at that point they already baptized the album as "Cleopatra VII" - a convenient name to remind us that several women adopted the name 'Cleopatra', but it was the seventh one to reach the status of a legend known all over the world.
If that first release gave us power/heavy/thrash metal seasoned with Egyptian aromas, this one is fulfilled with typical instrumentation, enhanced with cinematographic string arrangements and diverse rhythms.
Plus, we have an evolutionary leap in the production as well: more full-bodied and well finished, Medjay's sound is very close to established names in the genre, such as Myrath.
Furious, the tracks are uniformly heavy and direct, especially after the more visceral opening "Stargate". Other tracks are more in dialogue with the previous album and are more direct, with no flairs or other complicated techniques, to focus simply on the basic heavy metal: "Osiris and Seth" and "Book of the Dead" are examples.
In this release, the ballad of the album moves us even before starting to play: adding with extreme talented vocals in the title "Magic of Isis" the participation by Oula Al Saghir, the Syrian singer who came to Brazil as a refugee from the war and stayed here, following an artistic career.
Other surprises include the young singer Mafra, who gives her voice to the great "Ankhesenamon", and the not-so-surprised May "Undead" Puertas, frontman of Torture Squad who had already participated in the previous album and returns to offer us an interesting counterpoint to the vocalist (and guitarist) Phil Lima on "Sarcophagus".
I must once again congratulate the rhythmic section of the band, signed by bassist Samuka Vilaça and drummer Riccardo Linassi, which ensured an appropriate foundation for the aggressiveness that the faster songs asked for.
Reaching a surprising level for a, still little known group, that makes a little explored genre in the whole world, even in Brazil, Medjay is established with Cleopatra VII not only as a great name of oriental metal, but as a relevant name in the world scenario of the style.
Track List