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A mere 8 months after their last full-length album, Delta, Austria's Visions of Atlantis are back with a six-song EP entitled Maria Magdalena. The EP takes its name from the opening track, a cover of German pop star Sandra's 1985 hit song. While the song was born in a time known for mullets and the birth of the "keytar," Visions of Atlantis have transformed it from synth-pop to Symphonic Metal with ease and have made it their own. The rest of Maria Magdalena features three new songs and re-recordings of two older Visions of Atlantic tracks.

I liked Delta well enough, but on Maria Magdalena Visions of Atlantis have taken another step forward as songwriters. This is most apparent in the lush, infectious "Melancholia." The dueling vocals of Maxi Nil and Max Plank complement each other perfectly. The chorus will sweep you up and you'll be singing along by the second verse. Excellent musical performances are again present, lead by guitarists Werner Fiedler and Cris Tian and keyboardist Martin Harb.

If Symphonic Metal in the vein of Nightwish and Edenbridge is your thing, you owe it to yourself to check out Visions of Atlantis and Maria Magdalena is as good a place to start as any. This is a band fast approaching the level of those aforementioned greats.