Imagika
My Bloodied Wings
6.1
It’s got to be hard to differentiate yourself from the rest of the hundreds of thousands of metal bands in the world today when you sound like Imagika. Not to say that these guys don’t absolutely kick and pummel the asses of every local metalhead that attends their shows, but they’re certainly not close to making a name for themselves nationally. What’s so troubling about a band like Imagika is that they display a talent and boast relatively powerful vocals, but there’s no hook, nothing that sounds definitive or unquestionably inspired.
One thing is unquestionable – these guys like to play heavy shit and they like to play it loud. You’ll notice the vocalist immediately, and not merely because he’s so loud in the mix. I have a feeling he’ll be pretty divisive. Not everybody likes to hear the vocalist take the spotlight, especially in the thrashier end of metal. That said, dude has got a pretty good voice and a strong set of lungs. The music itself doesn’t push the envelope as much as the vocals. When there’s that much of a contrast between the vocalist and the rest of the band, it’s a sad commentary on band chemistry. A perplexing mix of modern Annihilator, Barlow-era Iced Earth (speaking mostly of the vocals), and more traditional metal come to mind almost immediately, with the former being particularly evident in some of the riff patterns. A song like “Weaken” defines the group in a sense, because it contains a few raging moments where the vocals soar with rather than against the riffs and where the vocalist takes a backseat to the guitarists and lets them wail away, but for the most part it just doesn’t gel well enough to sound like a united effort.
If every song sounded like “The Darkest of All Secrets” I’d be singing My Bloodied Wings’ praise to no end. While it begins with the predictably epic acoustic opening, the rage builds and finally settles on what has eluded the album until now - a beautifully orchestrated chorus. While some groups can survive without excellent choruses, more melodic and less complex bands like Imagika, who rarely pass the four-minute mark, need choruses like Tara Reid needs a publicist. It’s a formula that keeps things tight and under control.
While My Bloodied Wings is anything but original, it presents a few particularly strong elements that could work in Imagika’s favor in the not so distant future; a promising and powerful vocalist with decent rage, moments of riff heaven, and strong drumming. Get the three to work together and you’ll have recorded something worth the asking price.
