Tag Archives: Magnum

Magnum, The Monster Roars. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Adored by the fans, respected absolutely by the wider community, and yet even when The Monster Roars, it seems that Magnum, the epitome of Midland Rock for half a century, still find they cannot receive the recognition from all. They are not alone in this, but with Magnum, for the listener and the fan alike, it rankles more because of all quality recordings they have made, through the seismic writing of Tony Clarkin and the sheer colossal style and vocals of Bob Catley, Magnum are arguably not just Birmingham’s greatest Rock Band, but they are themselves the monsters who roared.

Magnum, The Serpent Rings. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

You should never judge a book by its cover, although in the case of Magnum’s musical adorations and front artwork muses, it is arguably safe to say that is the detail is what pulls you inside the mythical, somewhat medieval, gothic world created by the renowned Rodney Matthews, and then leaves the visitor at the door pleading to be pleasured by the sound they hear tantalisingly being played inside the citadel, the palace that shows the beauty of The Serpent Rings of to its fullest, untarnished best.

Magnum, Gig Review. Symphony Hall, Birmingham.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

When we were younger…a mere step or the beat of a chord from where Magnum used to practise in the fabled Rum Runner Club and within the shadow of memories of being arguably the finest of bands to have the Birmingham stamp placed upon its history and resume, the Symphony Hall played host to the band, and in a reversal of fortunes of weather, no longer put off by the snow and devastation of postponed music, instead it was the heat and sheer intensity of the homecoming gig to which the end of the tour will always be remembered.

Magnum, Lost On The Road To Eternity. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

If you are fortunate, then you will hear over time the dynamic of a band change; evolution must be a forward progression, it cannot stand still, it must not get sucked into the void of regression. If a group or artist is to survive then it must be seen to take steps, rightly or for ill in many fan’s eyes, in which to make sure it does not get Lost On The Road To Eternity.

Magnum, Sacred Blood, Divine Lies. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Divinity can come in many shapes or forms. Long since passed the days of it being the preserve of a religious practise or mystic observance, divinity is to be seen as how something makes you feel, how an artistic endeavour bleeds into your soul and takes on the world that beckons within your heart, mind and soul; certainly in recent years that sense of divine spirit, of captured Rock performance and total commitment to the rites of the union between song writer, musicians and vocalist have been placed before the Rock acolyte in the form of Magnum.

A Night Out With Metal On The Mind.

The multiple choice between Megadeth, Magnum, ‘Maiden or Metallica

T-shirts, crumpled to hell, beaten, seven shades of death

inside a second hand washing machine that dribbled

four star oil and council pop with regular ease

and threatened to catch fire whenever you weren’t looking,

locked horns with

the odd bit of your own valuable

spilled blood and redeemed soul,

imprinted forever, stained but unsullied and undefeated,

that always goes well with a great pair of jeans and trainers

that none of your well-meaning friends would be seen

dead in.

Magnum, Gig Review. Wulfrun Hall, Wolverhampton. (2014)

Bob Catley, Wolverhampton 2014. Photograph by Judith Hall

Bob Catley, Wolverhampton 2014. Photograph by Judith Hall

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

There are homecomings and then there are days when the bunting has been prepared for weeks, the ticker tape pouring off machines and road sweepers gladly earning overtime as they have brushes at the ready and every condition met to be remembered as a cog in a big machine of musical outpouring. With the sun pouring down on the Staffordshire City, its football team, Wolverhampton Wanderers having made it a very successful season and confirming Championship status for the following season, all that was left was for Magnum to come home to the Wulfrun Hall and give a splendid performance.

Magnum, Escape From The Shadow Garden. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Can a group go on forever making storming album after album? Eventually time catches up with all, the ticking of the clock counts down and the music stops; sometimes suddenly with no expectation from the fans and sometimes with the gradual decline of a group who knows that time has caught with them but still have the power to charm and beguile.

Magnum, Wings Of Heaven. 25th Anniversary Retrospective.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

For the best part of a decade Magnum had been considered one of the finest melodic/progressive rock bands that had come out of Britain during that period and especially one of the best to ever come out of the Midlands area by the time Wings of Heaven came out in July 1988.

Trillium, Gig Review. 02 Academy, Liverpool.

Amanda Somerville of Trillium. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

It’s a long way from Flushing in Michigan to the delights of one of Liverpool’s major music venues but there is something that the two areas have in common and that is the adoration Amanda Somerville is able to command as part of the Symphonic/Progressive metal group Trillium.

To open for the premier Midlands Rock band Magnum is a huge honour and one that is not given easily but Amanda Somerville and her creatively intelligent band have more than earned that right and proceeded to prove the point over and over again during the early part of the evening.