Magica – Dark Diary (2010)

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Since 2002 Magica has been gracing us with very interesting and consistent releases, “Dark Diary” is not an exception to this trend and shows the band embracing a more Gothic Power Metal sound than their original Power/Melodic Heavy Metal sound from their earlier albums.

With a new bass guitarist and a new drummer, the band is sounding as good as ever. The band’s music is somewhat very symphonic, but it never gets to be ‘too much’ like other bands that sound like a Star Wars soundtrack with vocals plastered on top. We love when bands know when to balance their synth/keyboard use to not overwhelm the listener with needless epicness.

The band has tuned down their guitar virtuosity from the past, but still retains high quality guitar work through “Dark Diary”. We think that this is one of the things that has made Magica’s music more accessible for every to enjoy without feeling overwhelmed with all the shredding the band used to have in their sound.

Ana Mladinovici’s vocals are as good as always, being very natural and different sounding than most of the Gothic Metal singers these days. The sweetness in her voice is very nice and relaxes us like almost nobody else does. There are the obvious ‘classical’ parts but we prefer when she is singing in a natural way.

Magica’s music still has the Power Metal influences that featured since the beginning, but we kind of noticed that they are creating simpler and catchier songs on “Dark Diary”. This reduction of flair in the music aspect, allows them to be more cohesive and appeal people that like their Gothic Metal with powerful female vocals and simple song structures. We are not saying that the music is plain in simple, but rather a toned down version of their original work, which works better for Magica in our opinion.

“Dark Diary” is for all fans of Gothic Metal, and will also appeal fans of Power Metal since there are still elements present on the band’s sound. We like that the songs are simple and catchy, but some feature blistering solos (i.e. “Release My Demons”) that do not take the focus away from Ana’s mesmerizing vocals. We can only expect good things for Magica in the future, since they will surely become one of the premier Gothic Power Metal bands in the next few years.

Band: Magica Album: Dark Diary
Label: AFM Records

Release: May 28th, 2010

Official Site myspace
Genre: Gothic Power Metal

Country: Romania

Rating: 89/100
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