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Opera Magna - Poe review



Reviewer:
8.2

26 users:
8.42
Band: Opera Magna
Album: Poe
Release date: 2010


01. El Cuervo
02. El Pozo Y El Pendulo
03. Un Sueño En Un Sueño
04. La Máscara De La Muerte Roja
05. Annabel Lee
06. El Demonio De La Perversidad
07. El Entierro Prematuro
08. El Retrato Oval
09. El Corazón Delator
10. La Caída De La Casa Usher
11. Edgar Allan Poe

My previous review was about a group called A Dream Of Poe. Now I encountered an album called just Poe. The band is called Opera Magna (meaning "big work") and they're from Spain. I was expecting this album with a Salvador-Dali-esque artwork to be another melancholic doom project, after all, what do you expect from a band who uses Poe as source of inspiration: sadness, ravens, angst, sighs and whimpers in the twilight air.

Surprisingly, Opera Magna is exactly the opposite of what one would think. This album is a bombastic and energetic power release that balances on the verge of cheesiness but is still an example of rather good taste. It's fascinating to see how differently one can approach a topic, this time Edgar Allan Poe's works. As the band's name might suggest, they like to do things on a large scale. If one's fond of Rhapsody (Of Fire) and similar music, this one is a nice dish as well. One may even draw parallels between this and Nightwish's last work where "The Poet And The Pendulum" was one big hint to Poe's novella "The Pit And The Pendulum." Opera Magna went all the way, Poe features a direct musical version of this tale and also those of other stories written by this particular author.

The band has created good musical means to pass forward the atmosphere of the novellas. The entire album is like a film soundtrack compilation. One notices it immediately as the introduction starts to play. The music is as if taken from the score for "Harry Potter" or "The Grimm Brothers' Snow White." (Another similarity with Nightwish whose Dark Passion Play has the same effect going on.) There's some breathtaking polyphonic baroque guitar passages among the general energetic flow of the album. The vocalist does a good job as well. The most memorable "novellas" from this collection are "El Pozo Y El Pendulo," "La Máscara De La Muerte Roja," "La Caída De La Casa Usher," and "Edgar Allan Poe." It's a diverse album so one will find many good things in every track. Last, but not least, the beautiful song of "Annabel Lee" is also an outstanding track.

All in all, Opera Magna did with Edgar Allan Poe the same thing that Blind Guardian did with John Ronald Reuel Tolkien. This album is surely a positive musical discovery for all kinds of audiences, not just those who read Poe.


Rating breakdown
Performance: 9
Songwriting: 9
Originality: 8
Production: 9

Written by Ernis | 18.07.2010




Comments

Comments: 7   Visited by: 185 users
18.07.2010 - 21:42
skrätte
I Hate You
Gonna check this out.
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18.07.2010 - 22:07
Edmund Fogg

Saying that an album is as good as BG's Nightfall sure picked my curiosity.I Hope it's true.
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You cannot sedate all the things you hate - MM
The Observer is the source of reality - Bloom
God damn it!! What did Diddy didn't do? - Satan
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18.07.2010 - 23:01
Fat & Sassy!

Sounds neat. Gonna check it out. Hope it's as grim as Poe's tales are. The comparisons to Rhapsody and Nightwish give me the idea that it's not though. :/
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19.07.2010 - 00:50
Rating: 8
Ernis
狼獾
Written by Fat & Sassy! on 18.07.2010 at 23:01

Sounds neat. Gonna check it out. Hope it's as grim as Poe's tales are. The comparisons to Rhapsody and Nightwish give me the idea that it's not though. :/

No... it's not grim at all... quite the contrary, it sounds very "happy and energetic"... that's what was interesting... you can handle Poe's grimness in such a manner...
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19.07.2010 - 08:35
Rating: 10
farfaramir

An excellent album, I must say. Opera Magna did an excellent job in this one
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19.07.2010 - 22:59
Rating: 10
Anibx

Finally Opera Magna is in metalstorm, I was recomending this band from months now. This album was a revelation for me. I know Mägo de Oz and Saurom from Spain (two other fantastic bands) and looking for information about those bands I found Opera Magna, mate, I was glad. This album is pretty good. Power metal from start to end, and not that kind of power that just seems too... well cheese; this band take the best of the genre and make magic with it. Completely recomended. Oh, and if you don't understand spanish I recommend to find the lirycs, their are absolutely amazing.
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21.06.2011 - 03:30
Spanishkiller

IMO this album is much better than El Último Caballero; anyway, Opera Magna, Dark Moor and Tierra Santa are the best Spanish power metal bands
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