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I really rate the material Magica have brought out since their breakthrough album Hereafter a number of years ago, but their early stuff leaves a lot to be desired. The band's debut, The Scroll Of Stone, was an awful, painful experience I never want to hear again, and while its follow up Lightseeker was a step in the right direction, an un-mastered production stops it being all it could be. The guitars are the biggest offenders here, being loud, cutting, boisterous bastards that chop away at your ears while Ana Mladinovici tries to be Tarja Turunen and the keys swathe everything with pompous Wishmaster-isms. The songs themselves are certainly better than those on the debut, being mostly of the double-kicked fantasy Power Metal school, though there is still a Within Temptation-esque feel to them, nodding it towards the gothic tag.

If the production wasn't so atrocious "Bittersweet Nightshade", "Witches Broom" and "Bind You Forever" would be pretty decent cuts. As it stands, you're better off with their later albums, as they're at least listenable from beginning to end.