Michael Polchowicz

Michael Polchowicz — Brazilian vocalist — was Hangar's first singer, and the voice of the band's two opening records: Last Time (1999) and Inside Your Soul (2001). His function was to define the timbre of a group that did not yet have an identity of its own. Hangar appeared in 1997 as drummer Aquiles Priester's project, at a moment when Angra had just placed Brazil on the international power metal circuit and the country was producing bands willing to occupy that space. Polchowicz is the one who introduced Hangar to that audience. The two albums he recorded belong to the melodic power metal school of the 1990s: fast tempos, harmonised riffs, wide choruses and vocals in a high register. It is the formula the band would practise throughout its path, even after changing singer five times. His departure opened the long sequence of changes at the microphone that would mark Hangar's history — six different singers in a little under three decades.