“It was the last years of the dictatorship and imports were prohibited, so my first guitar was awful and my amp was my stereo system”: Angra’s Rafael Bittencourt had humble gear beginnings – but they inspired one of prog metal’s most dependable players

Rafael Bittencourt of Angra.

Since 1991, Brazilian progressive-meets-power metal outfit Angra has delivered devastating swells of neoclassical riffage akin to a kick to the chest. For the band’s first 23 years Rafael Bittencourt, lined up with fellow six-stringer Kiko Loureiro, until Loureiro left in 2015 to join Megadeth.

Loureiro announced his departure from Dave Mustaine’s band in November 2023, after a leave of absence. While the band’s statements seem to leave the door open for a return, recent comments from Loureiro himself appear to make that unlikely. But you shouldn’t expect a return to Angra, either.