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Angra was formed in 1991 by ex-Spitfire duo guitarist Rafael Bittencourt and drummer Marco Antunes, as well as vocalist Andre Matos, who had recently left Viper, former Firebox bassist Luís Mariutti and guitarist André Hernandes.

After a short time the guitarist Andre Hernandes left the band. Shortly after guitarist Kiko Loureiro joined the band.

After almost an entire year of rehearsal they released the demo Reaching Horizons in 1992 which was received very positively by critics and achieved unexpected success both in Brazil and Europe. It was one of the first releases from Limb Music Products, which later would become one of Europe's premier power metal specialty labels.



Before recording their first album Angels Cry, Marco Antunes left the band and was shortly replaced by Sieges Even's drummer Alex Holzwarth for the recording sessions; he was later replaced by Ricardo Confessori. This change established Angra in its most enduring and prolific form, which lasted from 1993 to 2000. Angels Cry was recorded at Gamma Ray guitarist Kai Hansen's studio in Hamburg, Germany. The album included performances by Heaven's Gate guitarist Sascha Paeth as well as Gamma Ray guitarists Kai Hansen and Dirk Schlächter.

The album was released in Brazil in 1993 and featured many classical influences as well as an adventurous cover of Kate Bush's "Wuthering Heights". The album was a great success in Angra's native Brazil as well as Japan where it sold over 100,000 copies[citation needed]. That year Angra dominated the polls of the Brazilian magazine Rock Brigade obtaining awards for Best New Band, Best Album, Best Singer, Best Album Cover and Best Keyboard Player. Due to the album's success in Japan an EP was issued on the Japanese market which included remixed versions of songs from Angels Cry (Evil Warning, Angels Cry, Carry On and Wuthering Heights). In the following year the album was subsequently released in Europe through Dream Circle, and in France by C.N.R. It went on to be very successful both critically and commercially.

In 1994 Angra opened for AC/DC in Brazil and was invited to the inaugural Brazilian Monsters of Rock Festival, sharing stage with KISS, Black Sabbath and Slayer. After the festival, the band embarked on what would be a very successful Brazilian tour, which eventually ended in Europe in 1995. From [Site]
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