Over the years, Brazil has produced a large number of standout metal acts. Magician has now joined the ranks with their debut release Tales of the Magician. Magician solidified their lineup in 2000 but did not release their first full length album until now. Like a lot of power metal releases, Tales of the Magician is a concept piece. Set in the land fo Zelgian, it tells of the journeys of Zhaldor to free his peaceful homeland from the unholy terrors unleashed from the evil underworld. But do not let the D&D storyline detour before listening to this brilliant musical opus.

Tales of the Magician, mixed and mastered at High Gain Studios by Dirk Schlachter, Kai Hansen and Arne Lakenmacher, starts off with the typical bombastic choral intro, Let the Spell Begin, which does help to set the tone for the rest of the album. The killer, Prime Evil, breaks loose letting the listener know this is a band that takes their metal serious and that this is not going to be a by the books symphonic power metal effort. Stylistically, even though there are a few symphonic metal moments in the composition, the bulk of the music is quite aggressive and tends to lean more towards a more German power metal sound. Singer Dan Rubin, who reminds me of Andy B. Franck (Brainstorm, Symphorce) in his delivery, is a powerful yet emotional vocalist. Another highlight for me is the performance of drummer Zé Bocchi. He gives the album a slight progressive feel with his off-beat drumming skills. The guitar work on the album is as well as impressive with well executed and varied riffs. The soloing is equally well executed throughout The Tales of the Magician. The musical passages of the album allow the storyline to unfold without coming across as pretentious.

Tales of the Magician is defiantly one of the better power metal releases I have heard over the last few years. If Magician continues to put the same effort into future releases as they did with Tales of the Magician, then things will be bright for this young Brazilian band.

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