Reason

Reason is the second album, layering soaring vocals, thick keyboards and classical guitar into a dramatic sound picture. Released in March 2005, it came out under the name SHAAMAN because of a legal issue over the name (it reverted to SHAMAN once resolved). The unchanged four — Andre Matos, Hugo Mariutti, Luis Mariutti and Ricardo Confessori — play, and power metal's drive coexists with ballad wistfulness, widening the emotional range song by song. It was made in the wake of the debut's worldwide success. The approach — lower-centered and leaning toward straighter, darker heavy metal than the debut — drew mixed reactions, but while the arrangements are detailed the choruses always reach the heart directly. From the opener “Turn Away” into the title track, the hook of “Innocence,” a cover of The Sisters of Mercy's “More,” the shadow of “Trail of Tears,” to the closing “Born to Be,” the density never drops. It became the last album with Matos and the Mariutti brothers; this lineup broke up the following year. A record where Shaman's melodic sense and grandeur bind powerfully.