{"id":49169,"date":"2015-05-02T07:50:00","date_gmt":"2015-05-02T12:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=49169"},"modified":"2015-05-02T07:50:00","modified_gmt":"2015-05-02T12:50:00","slug":"magic-kingdom-savage-requiem-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2015\/magic-kingdom-savage-requiem-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Magic Kingdom | Savage Requiem<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Justin Gaines<\/span>
\n– Senior Columnist\/News Editor —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"MagicLike a comet that only blazes through the sky and disappears only to return after several years, the arrival of each new Magic Kingdom album seems to occur only after a five year absence. Of course, founding guitarist Dushan Petrossi is busy with his other band Iron Mask, but five years is a long time away, especially when there\u2019s such a huge volume of quality power metal albums each year. Fortunately the new album, titled Savage Requiem<\/em>, is worth the wait.<\/p>\n

Savage Requiem<\/em> is the fourth Magic Circle album to date, and the first to feature Random Eyes\/ex-Adagio singer Christian Palin, who replaces Olaf Hayer. Power metal bands seem to fall into two distinct camps. They\u2019re either Symphonic to the Nth degree (think Gloryhammer or the Rhapsodies), or they\u2019re on the Heavy\/Speed Metal side of things (like Mystic Prophecy and Brainstorm). Magic Kingdom is one of the rare bands that can do both, and do them equally well. Savage Requiem<\/em> is as glorious and epic and cheesy as you could possibly want from a power metal album, but it\u2019s also heavy as hell and has some breakneck rhythms. Think Iron Savior, but with dragons instead of spaceships.<\/p>\n

Palin seems to be an ideal fit for Magic Kingdom\u2019s brand of power metal. He has a good range and plenty of power, and he never gets too melodramatic in his delivery. He can also put a snarl in his voice for some of the thrashier, more headbanging songs. And of course Petrossi\u2019s guitar work and Symphonic arrangements are a major highlight of Savage Requiem<\/em>, giving it both a majestic atmosphere and a blistering technical aspect. Even with all of that they never lose sight of the melodic side of things that\u2019s so important in this kind of music.<\/p>\n

There are no harsh vocals this time around, nor are there any lengthy\/multi-part epic tracks, but Savage Requiem<\/em> doesn\u2019t really need either. Highlights include the anthemic \u201cGuardian Angels,\u201d the dark epic \u201cFour Demon Kings of Shadowlands\u201d and \u201cGuardian Angels,\u201d which really showcases Petrossi\u2019s technicality.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a shame we only hear from Magic Kingdom every five years, because they\u2019re one of the more consistent (and consistently impressive) bands in Power Metal. No matter what kind of Power Metal you prefer, there\u2019s a lot to love about Savage Requiem<\/em>. Fans of bands like Iron Savior, Rhapsody of Fire, Mystic Prophecy and of course Iron Mask will definitely want to check out this one.<\/p>\n

Genre: Power Metal<\/p>\n

Band:
\nDushan Petrossi (g) (k) (v)
\nChristian Palin (v) (k)
\nVassili Moltchanov (b)
\nMichael Brush (d)<\/p>\n

Track Listing:
\n1.\tIn Umbra Mea
\n2.\tGuardian Angels
\n3.\tRivals Forever
\n4.\tFull Moon Sacrifice
\n5.\tShip of Ghosts
\n6.\tSavage Requiem
\n7.\tFour Demon Kings of Shadowlands
\n8.\tWith Fire and Sword
\n9.\tDragon Princess
\n10.\tBattlefield Magic
\n11.\tDragon Princess (acoustic version)<\/p>\n

Label: AFM Records<\/p>\n

Website: www.magic-kingdom.be<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven Rating: 7.5\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Justin Gaines – Senior Columnist\/News Editor — Like a comet that only blazes through the sky and disappears only to return after several years, the arrival of each new Magic Kingdom album seems to […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":49170,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12394],"tags":[8645,2317,11182,1097,11183],"class_list":{"0":"post-49169","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2015","8":"tag-afm-records","9":"tag-cd-review","10":"tag-magic-kingdom","11":"tag-power-metal","12":"tag-savage-requiem"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49169\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}