AFM Records [release date 20.03.15]

Take the band name (Magic Kingdom) and throw in an excellent cover featuring a fire breathing dragon and you just know what “Savage Requiem” is going to sound like…Rhapsody of Fire on steroids comes fairly close…

“Savage Requiem” is Magic Kingdom’s fourth studio album following on from 2010’s “Symphony Of War”. Why the long gap? Well the mastermind behind Magic Kingdom is Belgian guitarist Dushan Petrossi and his other band Iron Mask also keep him busy with the more power metal “Fifth Son Of Winterdoom” released in 2013.

Things start off rather nicely with the medieval sounding intro In Umba Mea leading into Guardian Angels which reminds me of old-style Rhapsody with a little Dragonforce thrown in for good measure. Rivals Forever is fast and over the top sounding somewhat like Helloween and features the only memorable melody on the whole album!

Yep…things go rapidly downhill from here…Full Moon Sacrifice is plain poor…no tune and goes nowhere at all. Ship Of Ghosts features an extract from Difficult To Cure by Rainbow (better known by some as Beethoven’s Ninth) but the rest is forgettable.

All of the others…Savage Requiem, Battlefield Magic et al are well played but are not memorable…no tune…

The vocals of new vocalist Christian Palin begin to grate in places after a few listens and Dushan Petrossi seemed to run out of ideas for guitar solos towards the end…very messy in places.

Unfortunately the best thing about “Savage Kingdom” is actually the aforementioned cover artwork…it’s a pity that the quality of the songs can’t match this!  Next time let’s have some memorable tunes first and then build from there…  **

Review by Phil Berisford

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Power Plays w/c 9 December 2024

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