I must admit that this is the first I’ve heard of the Belgian band Magic Kingdom (apart from their track on the LMP-sampler) and after seeing the corny fantasy cover artwork I was pretty certain I wasn’t going to enjoy the experience. I was however wrong.

Metallic Tragedy opens with an instrumental intro before thundering into “Child Of The Nile”, a song that could have been played by Stratovarius; up tempo power metal with harpsichord-like keyboards. And although this track is by all means decently played, it is as original as Hammerfall’s impression of Manowar. Oh well, let’s not go there. Luckily, things improve as the album progresses and Metallic Tragedy reaches its climax during the same titled ending track. This thirteen minute long epic metal masterpiece left me hungry for more.

Magic Kingdom deliver all the goods at once; imbuing their melodic power metal with touches of melodic black metal and gothic doom, as well as a few more genres.

Here we have a band that dares to create a song that isn’t limited by the boundaries of melodic power metal. Grunts, opera vocals, blast beats and melodic interludes all in one track. At times Magic Kingdom sounds like the German Graveworm and at other times the band reminds of Theatre Of Tragedy. Excellent stuff, and all I can say is they show they have balls.

Even though Magic Kingdom saved up all the goodies for last, the rest of the album is pretty decent too; well played melodic power metal with good vocals. Although it’s far from original (listen for instance to “Flying Pyramids” which sounds pretty much like Yngwie J. Malmsteen’s Rising Force) it’s still above the average melodic power metal release. Magic Kingdom are a very talented bunch of lads who haven’t shown us all they have up their sleeves yet. I’m already highly awaiting a follow up. Best tracks: “Metallic Tragedy”, “Barabas” and “Flying Pyramids”.