There are no darkened thoughts looming over this one at all. Magica released one of their best albums to date. The Romanian based Power Metal band of AFM Records, issued Dark Diary. In comparison to its title, this release shows only light.

Magica’s Metal has not only presented them as another female fronted band, it gave them a higher advantage on other such bands. Their material is as accessible for all types of Metalheads as it is flows faster than the speed of light. With assurance, this album is not a short-lived story. Beyond the surrounding fantasy, Dark Diary continues the same catchiness of earlier releases, yet, capitalizes on most of them. Previous numbers as Hearafter and Wolves And Witches stand aside as the magic of Dark Diary washes through them.

As their music, heaviness and melody are no strangers to this group. The amazing ability of Bogdan Costea is evident through the entire release. The mastering of great solos, powerful main riffs and astonishing melodic lead guitar smashers is the main bond with majestic lead vocalist, Ana Mladinovici. The somewhat brute nature of the guitar, bass and drum lines, helped by a killer production, mix well with the angel like appearance and voice of this lovely lady. Unlike Nightwish and other Gothic acts, there is no opera here, only the malevolent singing of a starring female vocalist. Last, not to be forgotten, is the drama inducing keyboards of virtuoso, Six Fingers.

As a unit of Euro style driving Power Metal, Magica took the catchy side, while not overbearing it, along with the motivation to be heavy and to make wonders. Dark Diary is maybe another fairy tale, as reality is not an option, yet, through this unexplained daydream, there are analogies to the real world. With an impressive line of songs, most are true hits, fantasy elements and other tales are not that palpable to the naked ear.

As the Romanian Metal scene is not that known in Euro Metal as Germany, England or Italy, it has a proud representative to show off. As long as Magica is on the move, there is another group bound to the quality and the making of enjoyable Metal music.

Highlights: it is rather hard to pick between these beauties, yet, there are the strapping ones and the lesser ones. A reminder, there is not one track here that is too weak. The standouts are: “Need”, “Wait For Me”, “My Kin My Enemy”, “Used To Be An Angel”, “Anywhere But Home”, “Tonight”.

Website: Magica
Label: AFM Records