As far as my fandom goes, I’ve been a MAGNUM fan all of my life, starting aaaaaaall the way back in 1987, when I first discovered the song “Two Hearts” off their fantastic “On A Storyteller’s Night” album. It basically was one one of the reasons, why I ended up discovering more and more Rock and subsequently Metal and, well, started “The Metal Observer”. I explored their back catalogue all the way to their debut “Kingdom Of Madness” from 1978 and continued to follow them throughout their long and illustrious career and now in 2012 we have “On The 13th Day”, their 16th studio album. And despite some of the gentlemen being in their 60s by now, they have not lost any of their magic, be it Tony Clarkin’s masterful songwriting or Bob Catley’s strong vocals, do this day one of the most characteristic voices you will find in the business anywhere. And while firmly embedded into the Melodic Rock genre, MAGNUM’s main strength always had been the strong feeling for atmosphere and melodies without turning into a generic mass of polished sleekness, something that had made them somewhat big back in the late Eighties and has been picked up again after their self-imposed break. “On The 13th Day” once more offers us some of the best Melodic Rock you will find out there, with great sensitivity to beautiful melodies and harmonies, but also never forgetting that the main instrument is the guitar, with some surprisingly crunchy riffing (for MAGNUM at least) going hand in hand with Mark Stanway’s keyboard work and the solid rhythm section of Al Barrow and former THUNDER drummer Harry James. Another of the band’s trademarks has always been this kind of warmth emanating, making you feel at home and comfortable and this album is no different. Starting with the strong “All The Dreamers”, the Birmingham-based band embarks on a tour through enormously melodic Rock with strong and mature arrangements that are unmistakable MAGNUM through and through, be it the playful “Didn’t Like You Anyway”, the surprisingly heavy “Dance Of The Black Tattoo”, the beautiful ballad “Putting Things In Place” or the distinct riff of “See How They Fall”, showing all different facets of the band, but held together within the album’s context. Rounded off with a very good, transparent and warm production and another Rodney Matthews cover artwork, “On The 13th Day” should not disappoint any fan of MAGNUM and the band is still a guarantor for high class Melodic Rock this side of the often kitsch-ridden mass productions of this genre, even after 40 (!) years in the business! Review by "Alexander" (www.metal-observer.com).
RATING: 8.5 / 10 **GREAT**
Nenhum comentário :
Postar um comentário