Band:	Magician
Album:	Tales Of The Magician
Style:	Power metal
Release date:	December 2007

01. Tale I - Intro: Let The Spell Begin
02. Tale II - Prime Evil
03. Tale III - Underworld Terror
04. Tale IV - Sandstorm
05. Tale V - Terminal Day
06. Tale VI - Dark Ritual (Hear Your Master's Call)
07. Tale VII - Minstrel's Domain
08. Tale VIII - Siege On Zelgian
09. Tale IX - Crossing The Last Gate
10. Tale X - Finale: Let The Harmony Endure
11. Tale III - Underworld Terror [Pre-production version] [Japanese bonus]
12. Tale VII - Minstrel's Domain [Karaoke version] [Japanese bonus]
13. Tale VII - Minstrel's Domain [Video] [Japanese bonus]

When you have a look at the cover of this release, when you know the name of the band and the name of the album, you can be sure that you'll fall into the naughty world of Metal clichés?. And I'm sorry to say it but yes, this album is a real trap and you'll just have to put your hand on it to be attracted in a cheesy Metal vortex? But in each nightmare, you can always find something to save you and here this is the performances of the musicians which save the album, some technical parts are just excellent.

It's really sad that we have some really cheesy Power Metal stuff in this release. The lyrics are dull (sorry but we have enough of basic fantasy stories) some choruses which use operatic singers are really cheesy and the melodies are a bit too cliché to be really attractive. Though I don't know how the guys of Magician are able to do it but all their songs are finally not so stupid and have some really interesting parts. As an example, all the guitars soli are impressive and when you'll listen to the one of the second song "Tale II - Prime Evil", you'll just wonder if you're still listening to the same band or if you're not in front of a Progressive combo now? Because despite all the cliché that Magician music can give to the listeners, there are also a lot of good things in this album and definitely "Tales Of The Magician" is not just an album of poor Power Metal.

My opinion is divided in two here really. On the blue corner, we have really cliché music, on the red corner little Progressive influences and a really great performance of the musicians? Who will win then? Unfortunately, except of course if you're a unconditional fan of the genre, I think that it will be "too much" for a lot of ther metalheads and this is not because the album was produced by Dirk Schlächter and Kai Hansen that it will change anything. "Tales Of The Magician" is really well done and well played but some songs are just not good for me.

In my opinion, Magician is not lost yet. If the guys are able to develop the complex parts that we can find on songs like "Tale VI - Dark Ritual (Hear your Master's Call)" and forget a bit the conventions of Power Metal, I'm sure that they will become big. Right now they're just too much influenced by classic European Power Metal bands and their most interesting parts in their compositions will be forgotten, that's a bit sad. Magician just need to grow up a bit and in the future they should be able to do great things, they have all the (magical) weapons in their hands to do it.