MAGIC KINGDOM are a veteran band out of Brussels, Belgium. They are Power Metal force for the last twenty years. They are the veterans of the scene back in Belgium and this is their first album with the acclaimed Michael Vescera at the helm. If you haven't heard about Michael Vescera in the world of Metal, well you are probably living under a huge rock. This guy is one of the very best voices in the two decades. The guy has a great range and was the lead singer for YNGWIE MALMSTEEN from 1993 to 1996.

Though according to what I have gathered as to information, the lead singer was supposed to be Fabio Lione from RHAPSODY OF FIRE and a bunch of other bands. I don't know why he dropped out of the project and was replaced with the latter. Both singers are great and Fabio Lione would done this project proud as well. Yes, the name MAGIC KINGDOM is cheesy, hell, if you do Google searches, you'll find everything about Disney and whatnot! They are the prototypical European Power Metal band, good basics and with a singer that can do the job. This band has lot of speed, upbeat hooks and catchy choruses. This is pretty much what this band is all about. Michael Vescera brings another dimension to this even though Olaf Hayer did a great job fronting this band for many years on the previous albums.

This is a paint by numbers Power Metal Album. It's nothing groundbreaking and even though you have one hell of a lead singer, this album lacks great production quality. I felt the mix was a bit off. Michael Vescera doesn't shine as much as I would like and I felt his voice was drowned by the rest of the band. This hurt the album quite a bit. You have one hell of a opener called ''Unleash the Dragon'', very reminiscent of the earlier SYMPHONY X albums, neo-classical goodness to it's very core. Unfortunately the 2 of the last 3 songs fell flat, especially ''Just a Good Man'' which is a horrible Power Metal ballad. Well, most of the Power Metal ballads I have heard in my life aren't that great but this beats the cake.

My favorite song is ''Dark Nights, Dark Thoughts'', the guitars are on point, the chorus is catchy and it's tremendous pace brings you to your feet in an instant. Props to ''In the Den of the Mountain Trolls'' that is riff-heavy and it's a b it corny but I really enjoyed this song. Power Metal is not meant to be taken too seriously and this song is a perfect example of it. A decent Power Metal album but that is lacking proper production values. A whole lot of potential but they seemed to have wasted the talents of a perfectly able singer unfortunately.