Magica – “Dark Diary” (2010)

Label : AFM Records

Review by Tony Cannella

From Romania, Magica have previously released 4-albums with their last one being the excellent “Wolves & Witches” effort in 2008. Now the band are back with their fifth CD titled, “Dark Diary” a CD that sees Magica continuing on in their symphonic Power Metal direction with all the confidence of a veteran outfit – which they now are. Magica waste little time in getting to it, as the opening track, “Anywhere but Home” begins with a powerful guitar riff and a high energy that announces to the listener that Magica are back. “Dark Diary” is true Magica as the following songs, “Tonight”, “Never Like You” and “Wait for Me” can attest to. Their level of musicianship and songwriting continues to grow from album-to-album and, “Dark Diary” continues the trend. Probably my two favorite tracks are, “Release My Demons”, and the bordering-on-thrash heavy-ness of “We Are Horde”. These two songs really help to shape, “Dark Diary” into one of the best Magica releases to date. I have always admired Magica‘s ability to inject healthy doses of melody into their songs, while not forgoing their classic riff-heavy metal style. The final track, “Dear Diary” is only about two minutes long, but it offers the listener something a little different to close out the CD. This song is just Ana singing accompanied by some serene sounding piano, and it creates the perfect outro for, “Dark Diary”. Magica doesn’t stray too far from their chosen style of music, but each new release always has a fresh sound and quality to them, and that continues with, “Dark Diary”. Fans of Magica should be well please with the finished result of, “Dark Diary”, and hopefully they will pick up some new fans along the way.

Rating – 90/100

Tracklist

1. Anywhere but Home
2. Tonight
3. Never Like You
4. Wait for Me
5. Need
6. Release My Demons
7. On the Side of Evil
8. My Kin My Enemy
9. Used to Be An Angel
10. We Are Horde
11. Dear Diary

Line Up

• Ana Mladinovici – Vocals
• Bogdan Costea – Guitar
• Sorin Vlad – Bass
• 6Fingers – Keyboards
• Hertz – Drums

Links

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