Okey dokey. Here we go with a review of Magnum’s new offering – On The Thirteenth Day. Now although they’ve been around slightly longer than forever, pre-date NWOBHM, were (arguably) at their peak during the NWOBHM heyday and are something of an legend in British heavy/melodic/pomp rock circles I’ve never been much of a fan. All I have is a compilation of early stuff, On a Storytellers’ Night and one concert. So I did not plan on buying the new CD until “me mate Rob” told me it put the finest sliced Hovis firmly in the shade.
An Lo – I fired up the Amazon app and purchased the special edition with the bonus CD of this and that. A couple of days later it arrived. It took the rest of the day to extract the CD from the slip case as it was a very tight fit though task accomplished and in to the CD player it went. Probably because Rob had built it up so much I was expecting something extraordinary straight away. First listen – not impressed. Then it got much, much better…….
After about three spins it hit me what a fine album On the Thirteenth Day is. I “got it” as they say. It’s a good slab of solid heavy/melodic rock which does, er, rock more than one might expect from Magnum of yore. Some excellent riffs/powerchords from Mr Clarkin with some well crafted soloing too. Bob Catley sings his nuts off, Stanway tinkles away and the rhythm section is very solid. A double thumbs up all round from this cynic.
The opener is a little understated perhaps though chugs along well enough. After that the remainder is really enjoyable and meets all tastes. It’s heavy, it’s melodic, it’s full of hooks, it’ll get in your head. Highlights, for me, are the title track, Dance of the Black Tattoo, Shadow Town and Broken Promises. All hit the spot as nice up-tempo rockers. There’s even a “power ballad” style thingy – Putting Things in Place – which one can imagine played live with audience arms a swinging and many a lighter flame burning.
So “me mate Rob” did me a favour really. Thanks man. If you’d like to see his review, you can do that by clicking below.
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