EDU FALASCHI's ALMAH Parts Ways With Guitarist, Announces Replacement

ALMAH, the solo project of ANGRA frontman Edu Falaschi, has parted ways with guitarist Edu Ardanuy and has replaced him with Marcelo Barbosa from Brazilian metallers KHALLICE.

Marcelo started his carreer in Brasilia, playing alongside musicians like Greg Howe, studied at Berklee College of Music in the USA, and founded one of Brazil's biggest music schools, GTR. Together with Edu Falaschi, Aquiles Priester, Felipe Andreoli and Fabio Laguna, Marcelo Barbosa is currently rehearsing for ALMAH's Brazilian tour, which will not be affected by Ardanuy's departure.

Commented Edu Falaschi: "ALMAH's commitments are getting bigger and bigger, and we've been booking concerts in Brazil and abroad, apart from lots of near future projects, such as a DVD, video clips and a brand new studio album early next year. That said, ALMAH has become a very demanding band that requires total commitment of everyone involved, and we found in Marcelo the perfect chemistry for that to happen."

ALMAH released its debut album in the U.S. on July 17 via Candlelight. The CD features guest appearances by drummer Casey Grillo (KAMELOT),guitarist Emppu Vuorinen (NIGHTWISH) and bassist Lauri Porra (STRATOVARIUS). It was mixed in Brazil by Grammy-winning producer Adriano Daga, who has worked with many artists during his career, including LENNY KRAVITZ and SILVERCHAIR.

Edu Falaschi appears on the ALMAH album not only as a singer. He wrote all the songs and lyrics of the album and recorded all keyboards and acoustic guitar parts by himself. Furthermore Edu came up with the guitar, bass, drums, keyboards, vocal and orchestral arrangements. According to him, this was his main motivation when figuring the new project out: "It's a completely new experience. I was able to fully explore my creative sides as a songwriter, lyricist, arranger and producer," he said.

Musically, Edu says that, even though the "songs are pretty different from each other," the album is not too far away from the heavy metal genre that's made him a successful artist worldwide. "My main goal when doing this album was coming up with something that would not focus that much on the individual musicians, but rather in the music itself," he said. He believes the ALMAH repertoire will work live pretty well too. "After all, we're talking about songs with amazing choruses and exciting harmonies," he said. "I would say the melodies are really emotional and build an extremely positive atmosphere."

ALMAH revolves around a very specific concept. "It discusses our feelings basically," said the singer. "Almah is a so-called universe with a lot of different worlds, namely our feelings. Therefore, each person 'inhabits' and grows in his own world. To put it simply, some inhabit the world of greed, others the world of courage, hatred, love and so on. This is what defines the personalities of each one of us."

Edu also explains the true meaning behind the word "almah: "In Portuguese, the word is instantly linked to the Portuguese term for 'soul', which is 'alma,'" he said. "The soul is the truest thing that emanates from one's inner self. And that's exactly the meaning of this project. As for the actual meaning of 'almah', some scholars say it means 'purity' or 'virginity' in Hebrew. Others sustain it actually stands for 'malice' or 'perversion', though. Anyway, this is the duality that inhabits everybody's actual existence, two sides that form the whole, ourselves. The soul."