ANSATA

Genre(s): Progressive Metal 

Formed in Piracicaba, São Paulo - 1997. After a few years playing in local bands, in 1997, Rafael Romani (guitars) decides to resume his studies and search for a music school. In the school, he meets the guitar teacher Renato Manso and the bass player Leandro Bortoletto, together they formed Stonehenge. Watching to some of the students presentations, they meet the singer Marcelo Alves and the drummer Thiago Siqueira, then both get invited to join the band. In the next year, Stonehenge start to stand out in their area because of their technical qualities in playing covers and a little later, Rafael Romani and Leandro Bortoletto was already part of the professor's team in their school. With good reply in several festivals, they started to record some ideas and in the middle of this process Marcelo Alves is replaced by Luciano Gutierrez. Then, the band suffers some changes in its musical style, now presenting more progressive elements for both their own compositions and the covers they performed live. In 2002 they are invited to participate in Rock Soldiers Vol. 7 Song Collection that was distributed in Brazil and Germany, with a song called Above Them All. During the recording for the Song Collection, Leandro Bortoletto decides to leave the band to carry on other projects, and Rafael Romani plays the bass line in order to fulfill the launching time. With the several changes in their music style a need of a keyboard player was inevitable, and Thomas Barcelos (at first as a guest musician), joins the band. They change the band name for Ansata, assuming that this name reflects their music style more precisely. Even without a bass player, they resume the recordings but this time who leaves the band is Renato Manso. During this fact, the band decides to remain with only one guitar player, making Thomas a fixed member and the keyboards a more important part of the band. Having one more recording stopped and without a fixed bass player, they continue to perform in many places like Black Jack (São Paulo), Festival do Equinócio (Rio Claro) and Metal Rebellion (Ribeirão Preto) along side with bands like Versover, HAL9000, Death Slave, Andralls and Hawkana. Then, in 2004, they stop with the band activities to carry on their personal projects. During this time out, the members didn't stop playing together in other bands like Fireball (Deep Purple Tribute) and Trilithon (Hard/Classic Rock) with the singer Malagueta (Freehand, Ivory Gates). In 2008, now with Malagueta (vocals) Rafael Romani (guitars), Thomas Barcelos (keyboards), Daniel Defavari (bass) and Thiago Siqueira (drums) finally released their first album. Titled "Crux Ansata" the album had a great response from the public in Brazil and in other continents. Several reviews hailed the album as a great start, calling it a work of a promising band. With the album in hand, starts the shows to publicize their work. In 2010, when the Crux Ansata shows had already ceased, Daniel Defavari left the band for private reasons. At that time, Romani and Barcelos were already working on new songs and, searching for a new bassist, begun the pre-production stage of the new album. After some time, again without a bassist, Marcos Dellamatrice assumes the post and starts working on the new songs as well as in the first album songs. But after a few months, because the amount of work involved in the recordings and the schedule incompatibility, Dellamatrice quits and Rafael Benato, a longtime friend of the other members, enters the band. Benato retakes the recordings working immediately on the new single "Forging the Way". With this lineup, continues the work to release the long awaited second album, titled "Hidden Nature". 

Source: http://ansataonline.net/us/biography.php, abril de 2011.

Discography: 

Crux Ansata [Full-length, 2008]: 

1.Crux Ansata - Part I: Beyond Mortal Life 04:44 

2.Crux Ansata - Part II: Wrath Of The Gods 04:32 

3.Crux Ansata - Part III: Redemption 05:44 

4.Infinitive 06:03 

5.Choices 05:52 

6.Lord Of The Dead 05:34 

7.Forces 05:20 

8.Sands Of Time 06:37 

9.Above Them All 07:05 

10.Misty Fate 05:58

Forging The Way [Single, 2010]:

01.Forging The Way (Album Version)

02.Forging The Way (Radio Edit)

03.Forging The Way (Live Demo)