Virgo

Virgo was an international project created in 2000 by Brazilian vocalist Andre Matos and German producer and multi-instrumentalist Sascha Paeth. The two had known each other for years: Paeth had produced key albums for Angra, the band Matos led, and their studio partnership helped define the sound of Brazilian melodic metal in the 1990s. Virgo was born as precisely the opposite of that. Instead of power metal, the project went into progressive rock, art rock and melodic hard rock, with a declared Queen influence — layered vocal arrangements, a sense of theatricality, piano in the foreground and a freedom of form the metal band format did not allow Matos. He handled vocals and piano; Paeth took guitars, bass and backing vocals, with Miro on keyboards, Robert Hunecke-Rizzo on drums and Olaf Reitmeier also on bass. The only album, self-titled, appeared in 2001. Reception was one of surprise: those expecting an extension of Angra found a record of songs, closer to adult melodic rock than to anything heavy, with Matos using his voice in a more restrained, interpretive way than the high register he was known for. Over time the album acquired the status of a cult work among followers of the singer's career. The project had no continuation. Matos had left Angra in 2000 and would form Shaman the following year, later pursuing a solo career until his death on 8 June 2019. Virgo remained an isolated document — the clearest demonstration that his voice fitted far beyond the power metal by which the world identified him.