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Review: Magica - Wolves and Witches
Magica
www.magicaband.com
Wolves and Witches

Label: AFM Records
Year released: 2008
Duration: 45:15
Tracks: 10
Genre: Power Metal

Rating:
3/5


Review online: November 23, 2009
Reviewed by: Sargon the Terrible
Readers' Rating
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Rated 3.35/5 (67.06%) (17 Votes)
Review

I have always found Magica to be a decent if not amazing band. They have pretty much built their underground buzz as a Nightwish clone, with their last album Hereafter the most bland distillation of their Oceanborn worship. So it's refreshing and surprising to hear them branch out away from what they have been doing and try something else. Wolves and Witches is a stab at a harder, heavier sound, with more upfront guitars and much more riff-oriented songs. The keys here are firmly kept in the background as a support instrument, and the drums stick to a more rock-oriented 4/4 beat rather than a Power Metal double-bass approach. The result is a more rock sound while keeping the Power Metal melodies for the most part. It's definitely different than their old output, and sounds much less generic.

That said, I still don't like it much. The melodies are pretty second-rate, and don't stick around after the album is done. Vocalist Ana Mladinovichi sounds good, but her voice is so overproduced she hardly sounds human at all anymore. There are some good bits here, but when it's over I don't want to listen to it again. I like that they changed their sound a little, but not really the way they changed it, and the songwriting is a bit too poppy for my tastes. Fans of more commercial female-fronted power/goth music will like this, but it's not a must-have release by any stretch.

More about Magica...
Review: Center Of The Great Unknown (reviewed by Christopher Foley)
Review: Dark Diary (reviewed by Adam Kohrman)
Review: Dark Diary (reviewed by MetalMike)
Review: Hereafter (reviewed by Sargon the Terrible)
Review: Lightseeker (reviewed by Bruce Dragonchaser)
Review: The Scroll of Stone (reviewed by Bruce Dragonchaser)
Review: Wolves and Witches (reviewed by Christopher Foley)
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