MAGICA – Center Of The Great Unknown
- by Matt Coe
- Posted on 26-09-2012
Romania’s Magica return with another female fronted melodic power/ heavy metal album with "Center of the Great Unknown"- their sixth full length in their 10 year history. Naming themselves after one of Dio’s latter albums, the five-piece have more in common with Helloween and Nightwish than the former vocal master. Ana Mladinovici possesses a serene siren voice with operatic propensity, even on more straightforward heavier material like "Step into the Night" and "Mark of Cain".
The 11 songs have basic catchy appeal, but I don’t really see much distinction between their sound and the aforementioned reference points. The driving riffs of the title cut and the happier, neo-classical laden strains for "Under the Auroras" did raise the cursory eyebrow, but little else. Maybe it’s time for Magica to take some risks and add new nuances to their obvious power style- or run the risk of losing ground against the flood of newcomers.