Band:	Wizard
Album:	Magic Circle
Style:	Heavy metal, Power metal
Release date:	2005
A review by:	Malcolm

01. Enter The Magic Circle (Intro)
02. Fire And Blood
03. Call Of The Wild
04. Death Is My Life
05. On Your Knees
06. Metal
07. Uruk-Hai
08. Circle Of Steel
09. Warriors Of The Night
10. No Way Out
11. The Magic Goes on
12. Don't Say Goodbye
13. Master Of The Holy [bonus]
14. Sons Of The North [bonus]

These German wizards are, how it ever might sound, not newbies to our metal scene. They were formed already back in 1989 and this records is their sixth.
Now I know the name of the band sounds very cliché and that you probably will take them for bands like Wizards, Wizzard or the Polish band Wizard.
Anyway, I came in contact with this band around the release of their latest album "Odin" in 2003, then I didn't get fond of them at all, the sound on that album was pretty weak and their music didn't really catch my attention on the right way, so I was a bit sceptic this time to, when "Magic Circle" arrived to my mailbox.

So what could I expect this time, except another album in league with "Odin"?
Well, I don't know, but I really think that "Magic Circle" is (even if the title might suggest the opposite) a much better album, not so great that I'll jump up and down in my chair and clap my hands, but it's good.
The production is better, and that is making the whole listening experience much more pleasant.
But the music on the other hand is pretty much the same, all the same Manowar-influences is here, steel, metal, hail and kill, in each and every song. And with singer Sven D'Anna sounding almost the same as Eric Adams isn't making the similarities less.

Now it sounds like they only are a couple of Manowar-clones, and that's wrong, they have some of their own influences too. First of all the music that more against Power than Manowar's slower and heavier metal, here you'll here a major difference.
Second I think the lyrics is different too, sure they are all about what I said earlier, but the way of writing lyrics (and songs in general) is different, they are building the songs in different ways.


Anyway, Wizard's sixth album might be their best. It's neither groundbreaking nor original, but the material is surely the best I heard from the band. If I shall list a few songs that I think is better than others in anyway I'll choose the opener "Fire And Blood", that might be the best ever from Wizard, the chorus is cliché but it works, sing-a-long warning.
"Death is My Life" the song in general isn't that special, but I really like the rhythm section, bass drums in particular, they could have been even heavier, but they are still great.
And "No Way Out" mostly because of the chorus again, it's not as catchy as the first song, but in some strange way I like it.

So to conclude it all I've to say that Wizard is going forward, at least compared to their latest album.
They are still not very original and I still have some problems to listen to the album to many times, after a while all songs just flow together.
Sure all songs are very even, there are just a few that's a pinch better but the rest are all equal.
But if you're a fan of Manowar and hail-metal-kill metal and never heard of Wizard, you should really check them out.