Magnum - Lost On The Road To Eternity

Magnum – Lost On The Road To Eternity

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Much of this Magnum album is not pastoral English countryside wimphem, and thank goodness for that. LOTRTE is pretty punchy throughout.

Written by: gdmonline

ARTIST: Magnum
ALBUM: Lost On The Road To Eternity
LABEL: SPV/Steamhammer
SERIAL: SPV 284482 2CD
YEAR: 2018
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: England

LINEUP: Bob Catley – vocals * Tony Clarkin – guitars * Al Barrow – bass * Rick Benton – keyboards * Lee Morris – drums

Additional Musicians: Tobias Sammet (Avantasia) – vocals (#5)

TRACK LISTING: 01 Peaches And Cream * 02 Show Me Your Hands * 03 Storm Baby * 04 Welcome To The Cosmic Cabaret * 05 Lost On The Road To Eternity * 06 Without Love * 07 Tell Me What You’ve Got To Say * 08 Ya Wanna Be Someone * 09 Forbidden Masquerade * 10 Glory To Ashes * 11 King Of The World

Bonus Disc: 01 Sacred Blood – Divine Lies (Live) * 02 Crazy Old Mothers * 03 Your Dreams Won’t Die * 04 Twelve Men Wise And Just

RATING: 85/100

WEBLINKS: Site Link

Background

Well I am glad to report that British pomp rockers Magnum are riding the second wave of popularity like seasoned surfers. I have been a harsh critic of their material in the last decade, you can read about it within the other reviews posted here at Glory Daze (click on the tag below). I thought their last album ‘Sacred Blood, Divine Lies’ was a decent effort, and said that much in my review of that one, but I think 2018’s ‘Lost On The Road To Eternity’ steps it up a notch.

Since acquiring this album, I can’t stop playing it, so that says something. Sad to report that Mark Stanway and Harry James are no longer in the band. Stanway had been with Magnum for three decades, a very long involvement. We will miss you Mr Stanway. However, let’s move on, this new album is a 2CD (or 2LP) set from SPV/Steamhammer, and yet again we see another Rodney Matthews inspired cover, quite beautiful actually.

The Songs

Much of this Magnum album is not pastoral English countryside wimphem, and thank goodness for that. LOTRTE is pretty punchy throughout, ‘Peaches And Cream’ is a good example, the chorus kinda energetic and foot-stomping.

‘Show Me Your Hands’ is another to kick up its merry heels, with boisterous piano provided by new keys man Rick Benton, who has an extensive CV in the music industry and is more than a suitable replacement for Stanway. Third up is ‘Storm Baby’, which entices with a lovely mellow intro, but it’s Tony Clarkin’s power chords that catches the eye on this beauty.

‘Welcome To The Cosmic Cabaret’ sounds like a song-title befitting a Cats In Space album, but no, this 8 minute track is more of a progressive outing with some tinkly ivory work from Benton which reminds me of some 70’s west coast/jazz fusion music.

Avantasia‘s Tobias Sammet helps out on vocals for the title track, of which the opening sequence is very cinematic, eventually opening out into a symphonic wonderland. ‘Without Love’ is one of the harder tracks on the album, with rumbling drum work and thick guitar chords.

I like the fancy synth work preceding ‘Tell Me What You’ve Got To Say’, the song structure is of a galloping nature, once you hear it you might get an idea of where I’m coming from. ‘Ya Wanna Be Someone’ is more simplistic in structure, but surges along with energy thanks to an enlivened chorus.

‘Forbidden Masquerade’ alternates between soft and hard passages of music, as expected the verses are restrained (no percussion even!), the choruses completely the opposite, powerful, which continues right through to the end. ‘Glory To Ashes’ turns down the tempo, and I didn’t quite bite into this one as I did the others.

The closer ‘King Of The World’ is an intriguing piece. The lyrics are rather lengthy click here, and I had great difficulty determining who it was that Bob and co were singing about. The Pope? Donald Trump? LeBron James? Maybe I’ll ask him one day. So there it is.

In Summary

LOTRTE is a lengthy album, all the tracks are around 5 minutes or over, but there is much to enjoy here. It’s a bit of a grower too, and as the album (first disc) is 67 minutes long, there is a lot to digest. As mentioned at the top of the order, Magnum have found their groove again, and even if this album was released early in 2018, this could hang around in my playlist for some time to come. Welcome back lads!

Videos

Peaches And Cream

Peaches and Cream


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