Reviews roundup – Magnum vs. R J Thompson vs. Evergrey

Reviews roundup – Magnum vs. R J Thompson vs. Evergrey

MAGNUM
Lost On The Road To Eternity
Steamhammer / SPV

Time for a new Magnum album, their first post Mark Stanway, and their twentieth overall. Quite a pedigree for one of the UKs finest melodic / prog bands.

However, bearing in mind that they’ve been ploughing the same furrow for five decades (bar their Hard Rain break) you won’t be coming here if you’re looking for surprises. But you will come here if you’re looking for evocative classic rock with progressive overtones and some splendid melodies from the ever reliable Tony Clarkin. To be fair, they have jigged things up on the title track which chucks in an orchestra and a guest vocal from Tobias Sammet who has worked with vocalist Bob Catley on his own Avantasia project. Of course, Clarkin and Cately did a few shows this year over in that there Europe with Rock Meets Classic so some of that has stuck.

There are some truly excellent Magnum tunes on offer here, as good as anything they’ve put out over the years, with ‘Welcome To The Cosmic Cabaret’ and ‘King Of The World’ the definite standouts, and where the prog elements really shine. If there is one downer it’s the vocals. Live, Catley has struggled on the last couple of tours and in the studio there seems to be a degree of multi-tracking going on, but the results are rather muted. A shame, really. The new boys – Rick Benton (keyboards) and Lee Morris (drums) – slot in seamlessly and I’m sure it will annoy some that the keyboards are more central to the sound than they have been for a while.

They’re off on another lengthy tour in February and March 2018 but I’ll be sticking to the studio sounds. The digipack CD version of ‘Lost On The Road To Eternity’ will include a bonus live CD containing 4 songs recorded at Magnum’s 2017 performance at the Leyendas Del Rock Festival in Alicante, Spain and it will be available on vinyl as well.

BUY AT AMAZON

R J THOMPSON
Echo Chamber
Chicken Wire

This is North-East singer/songwriter RJ Thompson’s debut studio album and those of you who got up early for the Jools Holland tour will have heard some of these songs during his opening slot. He’s also been out on the road with Deacon Blue, amongst others, and released some EPs and a live album, but this album is the first full time out in the studio.

And what he does is proper, grown up, adult pop music. I believe the American colonials used to have a chart for Adult Contemporary, and that’s where this would have fitted seamlessly. A lot of the material has an eighties tinge to it, so I’m sure the Deacon Blue fans appreciated it. There are even some vintage synth sounds popping up hither and thither.

He’s got a good, melodic voice which brings out the best in songs like ‘Blackout Windows’, ‘Think About You’ and ‘Skimming Stones’, and there is no earthly reason why Mr Thompson couldn’t make it big if he managed to sneak a song on to the BBC Radio 2 playlist. Fans of mainstream 80s pop will lap this up.

BUY AT AMAZON

EVERGREY
Solitude, Dominance, Tragedy / The Dark Discovery
AFM

It’s coming up to the 20th anniversary of the debut album from Swedish prog metallers Evergrey, so it’s time to get with the reissues. And here come their first two albums – “The Dark Discovery” from 1998 and “Solitude, Dominance, Tragedy” from 1999.

I remember when the debut came out as people were quite excited by it. It was rubbish and time has not been kind to it. The songs just weren’t up to the mark. The reissue comes with a solitary demo track which just confirms that it could actually have been worse.

I don’t know what happened in the year after but “Solitude, Dominance, Tragedy” was a huge leap forward. It was almost like a brand new band and anyone interested in the history of Tom S. Englund, the sole remaining original member would be well advised to start here instead. As soon as ‘Solitude Within’ kicks in it’s a prog metal masterpiece. One of their many concept albums, this upped the intricacy and upped the power to tremendous effect. It remains one of their finest offerings. ‘Nosferatu’ is the album highlight and remains a masterclass in the genre. Shame then that there is nothing extra on offer to make you buy it again.

However, if you’ve been putting off an investigation into their history, start here. You won’t regret it.

BUY SOLITUDE…AT AMAZON
BUY DARK DISCOVERY…AT AMAZON

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