Artist: Magica  
   Title: Hereafter
   Label: AFM Records

Hailing from Romania Magica are in their fifth year as a band and already have two albums under their belts.  Although they may be new to some, they have already pounded the boards with deals linking them with France and South America, although now the world really is their oyster as they've signed a worldwide deal with AFM records for this the release of the their third album ‘Hereafter’.

With the whole Symphonic/Power Metal market at its highest the band have honed their sound to be right up there with the big boys like Nightwish, Eden Bridge, Leaves Eyes and the like, and with this new album they are about to embark on a journey that is sure to make the band as well known and loved as these.

The album gets underway with ‘All Waters Have The Colour Of Drowning’.  After the thumping drums and solo piano intro into the track, the quite majestic classical trained vocals of Ana Mladinovichi make their mark on the album as it swoops and soars between the solid metal and haunting symphonic soundings.  A truly magnificent opener.

This impressive album continues with ‘Turn To Stone’, a more up tempo one this song while still retaining that orchestral symphonic metal feel, only this time the guitars of Bodan Costea are more affluent and bring give the track a more harder edge, although once again it’s the vocals of Mladinovichi that are the stand out feature of the track as she brings air and grace to the whole metal sound.

The tempo is picked up with the very metal sound of ‘Through Wine’ with Costea’s guitars leading the way on.  This song rocks all the way as the symphonic sound is thrown aside to unleash the pure Melodic Metal of the track, great stuff and for this it rates high on my list of favourite tracks on the album.

‘No Matter What’ carries on where 'Through Wine' left off with some fantastic guitars but with the the tempo being brought down just a little to make way for Ana’s finest vocal performance on the album so far, and that quite a feat as she is superb throughout.

Just a ‘Entangled’ starts off you think you're in for another more sedate offering, but this is only partly true as while the track begins gently, it soon picks up into cacophony of pure Melodic Metal with Mladinovichi’s ruling the track with some quite moving melodies, all backed with the talents of some soar away guitar moments from Costea and the ever present rhythm section of Cristi Barla and Varli Zechiu, not forgetting the dexterity of keyboards man Six Fingers.

It's back to the more traditional metal of the genre with the thumping tones of the angst filled ‘This Is Who I Am’ before things settle down with more symphonic overtones of ‘Weight Of The World’.  This song is very much along the same paths as the new Nightwish album, with Ana’s vocals being the high point once more.

The high octane metal comes thick and fast on the riff filled ‘Energy Of The Gods’.  This time Mladinovichi is joined by male vocals, I don’t know who's but I’m guessing Bodan’s although I could be wrong.  This contrasts between the two vocal styles and gives the band a lot more scope with future tracks as it works really well on this song.

‘Shallow Grave’ is another great track and is again very much in the same vein as the new Nightwish material.  I think this is perhaps mainly due to the fact Ana sounds somewhat similar to Anette Olzon, the new voice of Nightwish.

The same vibe is carried on well into ‘I Remember A Day’, before the album closes with the angelic tones of the stirring ‘Into Silence’, which brings to a close a great release that will undoubtedly make it's mark on the fans of Symphonic and Power Metal and all things in between. 

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