Band:	Magica
Album:	The Scroll Of Stone
Style:	Symphonic power metal
Release date:	2003
A review by:	Undercraft

01. The Wish
02. A Blood Red Dream
03. The Sun Is Gone
04. The Sorcerer
05. Road To The Unknown
06. Daca
07. E Magic
08. The Silent Forest
09. Mountains Of Ice
10. The Key
11. The Scroll Of Stone
12. Redemption

Well, we have here a release from Romania, a country I've always wanted to know, and not because the vampires and shit, but because I saw one day in Discovery Channel a documentary about the nice places to visit in the country, since then, Romania has a check on my list of countries to visit when I go around the globe (first I'll go to France to kick Jeff's ass, and then to Sweden to punch Malcolm in the face).

Anyway, first impression of the cover art? Fantasy Metal, that was an easy one, the illustration reminded me the art of my compatriot Boris Vallejo, who is very known for his fantasy driven illustrations.

As soon the music started to play, I was immediately disappointed, because the band had a lot of wrong elements, first, a female vocalist that tries to sound like Tarja of Nightwish, and fails miserably in such endeavor, second, the music has way too much elements of Stratovarius and Rhapsody, third, the production leaves much to desire, the guitars sound too opaque and chunky, and the drums are way too buried in the mix.

After a couple of listens, I picked up a couple of songs that I like, "Mountains Of Ice" takes the symphonic bombastic spirit and blends it with a notch of speed, "Daca" show us a band that approaches to Gothic terrains in a song that is sung in their native language.

The album is a concept one, tells of a princess (Alma) who got fucked up by a demon and looses her soul, to get her precious soul back, she need to get the scroll of stone, well, is your basic fantasy story, problem/quest/solution.

I noted also some folk elements here and there, which the band could take advantage of to give the music more texture and variety.
I sensed more of the same here, but I also sensed talent, and I think that's a good start, with a proper production and some new elements, this band could make it, this one, their first effort was unfortunately mediocre, but there's always room for improvement.