Band:	Mystica
Album:	Carol Anne
Style:	Black metal, Melodic death metal
Release date:	September 2006

01. EVP [Intro]
02. Carol Anne
03. Alone In The Dark
04. Waiting For The Reaper
05. Cars Cemetery
06. Two Dead Angels [bonus]
07. Human Mutants [bonus]

Style: Black/Melodic Death Metal
Label: Painkiller Records
Country: Belgium
Length: 28:08
Release Date: 4 September 2006

X-Noise: vocals
Cathy: guitar
Kaosnake: drums
Alveyr: guitar (since 2006)
68 AD: bass, samples, keyboards & backing vocals
SOD: guitar (2004-2005)

Mystica is a promising Belgian Blackened Melodic Death Metal band formed in 1999. They already had the honour to open for bands such as Immortal, Soilwork, Marduk, Kataklysm, Vader and others. "Carol Anne" is the band's third effort through Painkiller Records, and was mastered in Denmark by Tue Madsen, known for his work for probably Belgium's most famous metal band Aborted, as well as Dagoba, Illdisposed and The Haunted.

With "Carol Anne" the band turns in a new direction, exchanging most of the Black Metal aspects and influences somewhat in favour of raging, powerful melodic sounds and electro effects, making the overall sound pretty similar to a slightly thrash oriented version of the typical Gothenburg sound of Dark Tranquillity. Although the mini album starts rather hesitantly, the band makes up for that in the middle of the first song and title track by pumping a blasting solo into your ears, unleashing all their devils from then on in five more up-tempo, breath-taking Melodic Death Metal songs. Mystica's sound on this mini has the intention of blowing away the listener in every single riff possible. And most of the time, in combination with the sometimes insane drumming and solid bass-play, they indeed succeed in this. Also the vocals are pretty impressive, nicely switching from deep growls to high screams. Due to it's short running time and those rant and raging songs, Mystica leaves the listener behind with an unsaturated and aimless feeling of wanting more. This album also gives the impression of a mature band who knows what they want and knows what they're doing, earning them a valuable place in the Belgian metal scene.

With this Maxi CD, Mystica delivers a nice piece of solid and impressive Melodic Death Metal, making them highly commendable. They truly deserve to be called one of Belgium's better metal bands at the moment. Not only would I recommend every Belgian to keep an eye on this talented band (LL-Metal Fest or Pestpop for example), but I would also recommend this Mini CD to every Melodeath fan who likes blasting songs mixed with some nice electro samples, and great growl/scream vocals. I promise you won't be disappointed.

Highlights: Alone In The Dark, Waiting For The Reaper, Human Mutants (which is actually a bonus song and already appeared on their previous album "Human Mutants")


Special thanks to HE:LL Metal for making this review possible.


Website: http://www.mystica-online.com - http://www.myspace.com/mystica666