MAGIC KINGDOM - Metallic Tragedy

10 songs
52:03 minutes
***** ***
Limb

Labelpage

Band name, album name and cover artwork were already enough to give me the shivers. Really, this is 2004, who still needs dungeons and dragons apart from role playing gamers? Since I wanted to give them a chance anyway, I started reading the info sheet and noticed a familiar name: Dushan Petrossi, the Russian guitar player who was already behind the band Iron Mask and their really good album on Lion Music. Apparently Dushan formed Iron Mask because his old label didn't allow Magic Kingdom to release their second album, so after five years, and many of them wasted on legal struggles, we finally get the sophomore effort, and it is no worse than what we are used from this great guitar player.

First of all what I appreciate about him is his willingness to put the song first. Petrossi is an exceptional guitar player, combining the neo-classical versatility with the amazing speed metal of the mid-Eighties, all enveloped in a tight production. The song writing is as good as you can expect from a band that calls its style symphonic speed metal: everything is very hymnic, the guitar solos emphasise Petrossi's status as a guitar hero, and with the 13 minutes epic title track, they even add operatic vocals and black metal shrieks. Apart from that it's a meaty piece of melodic metal, not as anaemic as many of their contemporaries. The only instrumental song Black Magic Castle convinces with crazy solos, while the ballad Another Sun shows why Magic Kingdom are best when they rock hard. Apart from that I suggest to listen to Child Of The Nile (of which the band made a video clip) and The Fight.

I recommend this album strongly to any fan of bands like Rhapsody, and give them 8 points. Great Belgian metal!