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Style: Progressive metal, power metal, symphonic metal (mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Dream Theater, Diablo Swing Orchestra, Angra, Kamelot, Haken, Seven Spires, Seventh Wonder
Country: Brazil
Release date: 2 May 2025
Today, dear reader, we heed the eternal call that plagues every band known to man. The ever-present lore, the esoteric call that populates artist comment sections across the internet. The eternal convocation: “VENHA AO BRASIL”. Yes, today we are looking at a Brazilian act, Maestrick from São Paulo, and their album Espresso della vita: Lunare, part two of a concept album about a day-long train ride as a metaphor for life’s journey to death, and a nocturnal counterpart to their 2018 release Solare. It’s an ambitious progressive metal work that incorporates swing, symphonic power metal, and Brazilian musical conventions alongside heavy staccato riffing and velvety-soft vocals to create a high-octane experience.
Maestrick excel most in the heavy swing/cabaret influence highlighted on the early part of the album. Tracks like “Upside Down”, “Ghost Casino”, and “Mad Witches” hearken back to early Diablo Swing Orchestra: heavy, grooving riffage punctuated by swing and jazz-influenced horn and piano sections that make you want to tap your feet and snap your fingers to the beat in a smoky room with a cigar in your mouth and two fingers of whisky in your glass. Additionally, the song “Agbara” features prominent Afro-Brazilian rhythmic cadences with lyrics in Portuguese—another excellent inclusion. I love hearing regional music in metal, and they blend it perfectly well with their heavy progressive metal style. It reminds me a little of the way Angra’s “Caveman” incorporated similar elements on their 2018 album Ømni. Unfortunately, the swing and traditional Brazilian influences are all but abandoned by the end of the album, where Lunare plays out with more symphonic, melodic progressive metal standards.
Many of the compositions on Lunare feature a strong late-Dream Theater impact with a lot of twisty-turny Phrygian-dominant riffs present on “The Root” and “The Last Station (I A.M. Leaving)” and downtuned 7-string passages (“Boo!”). Add in a bit of that ‘modern metal’ affectation on songs like “Lunar Vortex” and “Agbara”—imagine Haken, Voyager, and that type of djent-approximate start-stop staccato riffing—and you’ve got a recipe that modern progressive metal lovers will find familiar yet compelling. Moreover, clear symphonic metal influence features on nearly the entire album, with grandiose compositions that echo film score epics, adding a lot of texture to the sound. Particularly captivating is the middle of “The Root”, where background strings heighten tensions before the guitar solo—and the end of the same track, where violin arpeggios over staccato riffing transition into a grand orchestral sequence that ends abruptly with heavy guitar. Skilfully written, and masterfully executed.
Despite several strong points to Lunare, there are more than a few instances where Maestrick divert away from the energetic compositional style and into a more subdued emotional one, often at the expense of the album’s pacing. Soft piano and reverberant string arrangements characterize “Sunflower Eyes”, “Dance of Hadassah”, and the second half of “Mad Witches”. On “The Last Station” (the album’s epic, with a runtime of eighteen minutes), strummed acoustic guitar introduces the piece, which ebbs and flows in several movements from a soft rock ballad into a distinctly progressive metal heavy-hitter of a track, before transitioning into another very showy, symphonic outro. This consistent back-and-forth from heavy to soft and back again, even within the same song, I find to be a bit disengaging. Although I understand the need for differentiation within an album, it starts to feel a little repetitive when every other track incorporates some type of slow sentimental piece.
In spite of all that, Maestrick are obviously competent musicians and put out a very strong work with this ostentatious release that features symphonic elements, regional touches, and swing/jazz influence. Indeed, Espresso Della Vita: Lunare features all the nuance of its namesake drink, and much of the power—but sometimes stumbles into more watered-down territory with an overabundance of melodrama in its emotional ballads. These slower passages can bring you crashing down to Earth like a naloxone nasal spray when you’re carefree and flying high on the effects of progressive metal ambrosia. The album’s a fun ride, but a long one. Better brew another pot.
Recommended tracks: “Upside Down”, “Boo!”, “Lunar Vortex”
You may also like: Mindflow, Noveria, Almah, Immortal Guardian, Vougan, Everon
Final verdict: 7.5/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | YouTube | Official Website | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page
Label: Frontiers Music Srl – Bandcamp | Facebook | Official Website
Maestrick is:
– Fábio Caldeira – (lead vocal, piano, synths and orchestrations)
– Guilherme Carvalho – (guitars, backing vocals)
– Renato “Montanha” Somera – (bass, backing vocals)
– Heitor Matos – (drums and percussion, backing vocals)
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