LA Music Review | Art, stories and advice
Upbeat and empowering!
Hi IMAGICA, welcome to LA Music Review! Tell us a little bit about you and your music.
IMAGICA is a Ukrainian / Portuguese Cinematic Arena Dance Metal band | art project, founded by Ukrainian professional film director, musician, and songwriter Victor Maslyaev and Portuguese composer and guitar player David Uricchio.
Band members are based in Lisbon, Portugal where their StarCult Studio is situated.
As professional filmmakers and musicians, we have tons of influences varying from different styles of metal from MDM and Modern Metal to Industrial and Progressive, EDM, pop rock, punk, and film scores.
That’s where the genre definition and band’s moto/caption came from, defining our mission.
Cinematic – we strive to be musically visual. Each song represents a separate plot line with the cinematic script written and ready to shoot. We’ve always been fascinated by the approach of Rammstein and Mylene Farmer and even Meat Loaf where every music video is a short film telling a story in an artistic metaphoric way.
Arena – let’s be honest. If you want to play in a garage band you can enjoy that kind of activity with a bunch of friends and there’s nothing wrong with that. But if you want to be a professional musician and see your music as a dream of fulfilling your Life Mission – then you must raise arenas and write music that people would enjoy!
Dance – the riffs and the melodies we write must be fun to play and enjoyable to listen to. Sometimes it’s a jumper, sometimes a sentimental ballad, sometimes a moshpit slam, or an anthemic club raiser but we’d like people to be able to have fun and dance, positively releasing their feelings, even if the reality is ugly enough to make you cry.
Metal – Oh, yeah! We are metal! Raised on multiple metal influences from Melodeath, Doom, Death, and Sympho Black to Industrial, Metalcore, Modern Metal, Alternative, AOR, and Pop, we combine riffing with melodies, clean singing with all sorts of growls and screams. Metal for us is a therapy and a way to release aggression, sadness, despair hate, and anger in a positive way.
Start streaming “Insanity” here:
Congrats on the release! What was your inspiration when you were writing this project?
Released on February 24, 2023. We’re inspired hugely by artists from 80’s, 90’s and 00’s blending genres and reconsider them in our own modern artistic way. Imagine a playlist when you start with Sting, then go to Meat Loaf, Slipknot, In Flames and Rammstein, then Roxette with A-ha, Morten Harket, Lamb Of God, Ghost, Van Halen, Linkin’ Park, Scooter and Queen), spice it up with old days Metallica, My Dying Bride, Muse, Corey Taylor and the modern vibe of Bring Me the Horizon, Lorna Shore, add a bit of Ukrainian folk tunes, and film-scores from Hans Zimmer, Howard Shore, Edward Shearmur and dozens of classic composers. Then you have it all put through your artistic eye and make all your versatile influences blend in your head into something else…
This is how IMAGICA “Number One” EP was composed. We keep working on the other 7 tracks for a full album. All songs are composed and are being recorded at the moment.
What is your vision for this song? What lessons would you like to impart with your audience?
We see heavy metal music with killer riffs and catchy hooks blended with EDM and pop rock that people would enjoy it at big venues and arenas! We are here to have fun and allow people to release their aggression in a positive way!
For us, IMAGICA music is a therapy that drives people though the characters adventures in both the songs and music videos shot like in a short-films format. We are entertainers speaking our energy and pain through music and films.
The message of ‘Number One’ is simple and, in our opinion, close to many. From the early childhood just a few people believe in you. The rest of the world underestimates you and tries to subdue, show your place and keep you an underdog. In a tough competition, we always put all our efforts to be on top, but once you’re there, you feel empty and exhausted.
All the wounds that you’ve passed through start to pay their toll. So, the most important part is to find your way to be happy and stay NUMBER ONE!
YOU’RE ALL NUMBER ONE. GET US THE ARENA!
What is your favorite part of this body of work?
We love all of the songs in different ways, but the most resonant probably is the INSANITY. It was written in Kyiv just before the War and absorbed all the sense of impending danger and vulnerability in front of the face of the looming darkness.
Anything else we should know about it? Future releases?
We keep working on the rest of the songs to “Number One” full album. Overall, the album will consist of 12 tracks. In the meantime we keep recording and mixing in our studio, sending out the EP to the labels and radios, rehearsing live performances, and looking for booking agents.
Also, we’re looking for fundraising to shoot music videos, all scripts are already written and ready to shoot.
We keep writing new material. Now, we have already composed and partly recorded about 30 songs, for the second and partly the third album, so there will be no problem with the new releases from IMAGICA.
