Andre Matos

Andre Coelho Matos (São Paulo, September 14, 1971-Ib., June 8, 2019) was a Brazilian musician, producer, pianist, singer and composer. He experimented with different musical planes throughout his career, his favorite being heavy metal in its different variants. He was a vocalist for bands like Angra, Shaman and Avantasia.

Biography

From a very young age he began to show an interest in music. At the age of ten, he began to play the piano, showing great interest in classical composers before becoming interested in heavy metal, allowing himself to be influenced by great composers such as Beethoven, Chopin and Mozart, to later delve into the world of of rock, once he is carried away by the currents led by Iron Maiden, Kate Bush, Manowar, Peter Gabriel, Sagrado Coração da Terra, Rush and Queensrÿche. Three years later, he decides to attend the famous Rock in Rio, and it is from there that Andre Matos decides to dedicate his life to heavy metal .

Musical career

From the age of 14, he entered the Brazilian music scene with his performance as the vocalist of Viper, which later led him to different groups, Angra being one of the most important on the list.

1985-1991: Viper

In 1985 he joined the heavy metal group Viper, recording his first studio album two years later called Soldiers Of Sunrise with a 16-year-old Andre Matos who was beginning to make its way into the Brazilian metal scene. In 1987 Viper released his second studio album called Theatre Of Fate, showing a much more vocally and musically mature Andre Matos than on his previous album, leaving a clear impression, and for the first time in his career, his classical roots, which will be manifested in his later works. In 1991 he decided to leave the group to dedicate himself to his higher studies in classical music.

1991-1999: Angra

In 1991 he joined the group Angra together with Rafael Bittencourt and Kiko Loureiro on guitars, Luis Mariutti on bass and Marco Antunes on drums, releasing their first demo titled Reaching Horizons, containing a schematic of what would be the album that would happen to it.

In 1993 Angra released the most successful album of his career, Angels Cry. In this album Marco Antunes leaves the band, being replaced by Ricardo Confessori on drums, although the album is recorded as a session player by Alex Holzwarth, drummer of the band Sieges Even; and the keyboardist Leck Filho joins to interpret the instrumentations composed by Matos in the concerts. With this formation, Angra would continue on his way until 1999.

Angels Cry featured artists such as Gamma Ray's Kai Hansen and Dirk Schlächter and Heaven's Gate's Sascha Paeth, making it one of the most ambitious albums for a debuting band. Despite this, Angels Cry received a large number of awards from specialized magazines in the genre and launched Angra to the world metal scene, being praised for the specialized criticism throughout the world scene. The Angels Cry tour saw Angra play alongside the likes of Black Sabbath, Slayer and Kiss, further increasing her worldwide recognition.

In 1994, Andre Matos gets his university degree after composing and conducting a symphony orchestra, while Angra releases an EP titled Evil Warning, whose content consists mostly of remixes of Angels Cry songs.

In 1995 the band locked themselves up in a ranch on the outskirts of São Paulo to make their new album. From the recordings made on that farm, a demo tape called Eyes Of Christ came to light, which would be the demo of what would be Angra's second LP, which would finally see the light of day in 1996 under the name of Holy Land. The album sells over 200,000 copies and sells out concerts. In the same year they released the EP Freedom Call, which featured remastered songs from their demo and the occasional curiosity such as the version of Judas Priest, "Painkiller".

Due to the great success of Angra, they doubled the duration of the tour, going through France, where they recorded a live album called Holy Live in 1997. A year later the EP Lisbon, an appetizer of what will be their third album Fireworks, where there is a change in style compared to their previous albums. Fireworks explores various musical currents, distancing itself from its predecessors in terms of style. In the same year the EP Rainy Nights appears, this being the last album of the band with Andre, Luis and Ricardo, since these, due to differences with the rest of the band and the production company, leave the group at the end of the tour.

2000-2005: Shaman

After leaving Angra, he formed the band Shaman together with his companions Luis Mariutti and Ricardo Confessori. Later, Luis's brother, Hugo Mariutti, joined as a guitarist.

Matos also takes advantage of this period to record a project he had pending with his friend Sascha Paeth (Heaven's Gate guitarist), together they form the Virgo duo and record their first and only self-titled album, a style album hard rock that explores horizons never before touched by Andre. The Shaman group released their album Ritual in 2002, and the Ritual World Tour began, which would last almost a year and a half. They tour the world and record a live album and DVD in 2003 called Ritualive.

At the end of March 2005, they released their second studio album entitled Reason where Matos's piano monopolizes much of the leading role. Despite this, the drummer of the band Shaman announced on October 10 the breakup of the band on the fansite.

2006-2019: Andre soloist

Andre Matos began recording a solo album with the collaboration of Sascha Paeth and other renowned artists. In mid-2006 he had the honor of playing the title role of the rock opera Tommy written by The Who, in a series of performances held in São Paulo alongside a symphony orchestra.

Time to be Free was the name of Matos' new release as a soloist. In this new musical adventure of the vocalist he is accompanied by Luis Mariutti on bass, Hugo Mariutti on guitar, Fabio Ribeiro (former keyboardist for Angra en vivo), and two new additions who played with Matos at the beginning of his career when he recorded his first album with Viper, his first band, at the age of 15, in 1987. They are André Hernandes on guitar and Eloy Casagrande, a young drummer just 16 years old on drums. All these musicians were guided in their work by two producers, the usual Sascha Paeth (Heavens Gate, Virgo, Shaman) and Roy Z (Bruce Dickinson, Halford, Helloween, Judas Priest). Vocalist Amanda Somerville also participated in the recording, contributing some female voices. Mentalize from 2009 and The Turn of the Lights from 2012 were his next solo recordings.

Death

On June 8, 2019, Matos's death was announced, although the cause was not initially disclosed. Ricardo Confessori, Matos' partner in several of his musical projects, confirmed the news:

"It is with deep pain in our hearts that we say goodbye to Andre, this time definitively."

It was later confirmed that the musician died of cardiac arrest.

Discography

Viper

• Soldiers of Sunrise (1987)
• Viper 1989 (demo, 1989)
• Theatre of Fate (1989)
• All My Life (2007) - ("Love is All")
• To Live Again - Live in São Paulo (In Vivo, 2015)

Angra

• Reaching Horizons (1992)
• Angels Cry (1993)
• Evil Warning (1994)
• Eyes of Christ (1995)
• Holy Land (1996)
• Make Believe (1996)
• Freedom Call (1996)
• Holy Live (1997)
• Lisbon (1997)
• Fireworks (1998)
• Rainy Nights (1999)
• Best Reached Horizons (compilation, 2012)

Shaman

• Ritual (2002)
• Ritualive (2003)
• Reason (2005)

Virgo

• Virgo (2001)

Andre Matos

• Time to be Free (2007)
• Mentalize (2009)
• The Turn of the Lights (2012)

Symphony

• In Paradisum (2011)

Collaborations

• Nepal: Manifesto (1996)
• Looking Glass Self: Stigmata (1998)
• Superior: Younique (1998)
• Time Machine: Secret Oceans Part II (1998)
• Sacred: Ao West do Sol, West da Lua (2000)
• Rodrigo Alves: Suddenly (2000)
• William Shakespeare's Hamlet (2001)
• Karma: Into the Eyes (2001)
• Henceforth: I.Q.U. (2001)
• Avantasia: The Metal Opera Parts I ' II (2001) (2002), The Wicked Symphony (2010)
• Dr. Without: 10 years (2003)
• Aina: Days Of Rising Doom (2004)
• Luca Turilli: Prophet Of The Last Eclipse (2002)
• Avalanch: The Poets Have Dead (2003)
• Korzus: Ties Of Blood (2004)
• Thalion: Another Sun (2004)
• Eyes Of Shiva: Deep (2005)
• Avalanch: Mother Earth (2005)
• Krusader: Angus (2006)
• Crazy Train: Steel veins / Belgrano (2008)
• HDK: System Overload (2009)
• Trick or Treat: Rabbits Hill Part. I (2012)
• Art X - The Redemption Of Cain (2016)
• Soulspell - 10 Years Of Soul (DVD) (2019)