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After the superlative Neverworld, it was an interesting turn of events when British/Italian Power Metallers Power Quest – man, that's a mouthful – unleashed their third opus, the wonderfully listenable Magic Never Dies, as it took the band's unique brand of catchy, speedy, lightweight Power Metal and morphed it head on with pompous AOR and Hard Rock, making their third record possibly their most melodic to date, and an album that wore its 80s influences unashamedly on its sleeve. From the fantastic opening pair of "Find My Heaven" and the incredibly fast "Galaxies Unknown", Magic Never Dies immediately sets the pace for the remainder of the album, which stops and starts in a variety of tempos and yet always reverts to the intensity of their debut, which was their last album to do so, as Steve Williams and co would move onto heavier, more mature endeavors with their next release. The feathery production is also much clearer and more professional than Neverworld, making me wonder if that album had been recorded under these conditions how damn fine it would have sounded.

This record also brought to the band a significant jumpstart in the percussion of Italian prodigy Francesco Tresca, whose rattling double bass drumming throughout the album really lifts Power Quest into the same league as contemporaries Freedom Call, Sonata Arctica, and to a lesser extent, the now extinguished Rhapsody. Definitely their most accessible record – and the album that spawned live favorites "Hold on to Love", "Soulfire", and the sickly-sweet "Children of the Dream" – Magic Never Dies is a must for any Power Metaller's collection, and an important step forward for a band with big things on the horizon.