Description

The Nation of Brazil is not a stranger when it comes to heavy metal. The earliest pioneers of Brazilian born metal bands would include the mighty Sepultura, who really put Brazil on the map in the metal world. Other bands would include Angra, Andre Matos, DragonHeart, Shaman, Dark Avenger; and most recently Hibria. But now a newcomer from Brazil has raised the Brazilian flag high in the air and I speak of power/progressive metal band, Magician. Formed in the year 2000, Magician released a demo CD in 2002, entitled Brief Magic Story. Years went by and finally after being picked up by the Dockyard1 label, Magician released their debut album in 2008, called Tales Of The Magician. The album was mixed and mastered in Germany by Dirk Schlachter and Kai Hansen of Gamma Ray; and also Arne Lakenmacher, who was worked with bands such as Nevermore, Primal Fear and Kreator. Tales Of The Magician is a fantasy conceptual album, telling the story of Zhaldor, a magician seeking to free his homeland from an underworld terror. As far a debut albums go, Tales Of The Magician is quite good, with the music not just restricted to power metal. There are also many progressive metal passages and also some folk elements too; to give their music a bombastic and epic feel. Throughout the duration I could hear similarities with early Angra and also Rhapsody (Of Fire); but without their Hollywood style productions. Vocalist Dan Rubin is suited well to this style, despite his vocals being a tad on the gruff side at times. He has a fair amount of range and delivery, but also delivers a lot of passion and strength into each song. One of the better tracks on the album is the opener, Prime Evil. This track contains a galloping melodic riff, and a decent solo to boot. Terminal Day is another stand out track, as is it quite epic sounding and lengthy too, clocking in at just under seven minutes. After a slow ballad-esk build up, the song speeds up and rumbles along for the remainder. I really liked the creative song-writing of this track, as it is wonderfully structured and quite emotional. Both Dark Ritual (Hear Your Masters Call) (another lengthy epic track) and the kick ass Minstrels Domain are songs that appear in the highlight reel. Minstrels Domain is quite folkish in sound, containing acoustic guitar and wind instruments in part, to be followed by a mean chunky guitar riff in between. The song is again melodic, and sung beautifully by Dan Rubin. Lastly, Siege Of Zelgian is yet another standout track on the album, being considerably straight out power metal, with thundering double bass, fast guitar riffs and soaring vocals. In the end, there is a lot to enjoy from Tales Of The Magician, especially if you are a fan of prog/power metal and folk metal. Magician have structured their songs nicely to include all those genres, to give you an album full of variety, difference and creativity. Although it may not be ground-breaking, Tales Of The Magician is still a solid debut release that will spend plenty of time spinning in your cd player. Fans of Angra and Rhapsody (Of Fire) will especially like Magician, as to the musical similarities between the three bands. Nice effort.

Track listing:
1. Intro: Let The Spell Begin
2. Prime Evil
3. Underworld Terror
4. Sandstorm
5. Terminal Day
6. Dark Ritual (Hear Your Masters Call)
7. Minstrels Domain
8. Siege On Zelgian
9. Crossing The Last Gate
10. Let The Harmony Endure