Magdallan End Of The Age

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by Michael Debbage
Staff Writer

After being featured on the impressive 1988 House Of Lords debut, frustrated guitarist Lanny Cordola departed the hair band back in 1990. Two years later, he began collaborating with vocalist Ken Tamplin, who is well known for his elastic four-octave voice with Christian metal band Shout’s. Rounded out with former House Of Lords drummer Ken Mary and bass extraordinaire Brian Bromberg, Magdallan began to be labeled as a super-group with a super-sized recording budget that resulted in their impressive debut Big Bang. With two additional recordings with various lineups, End Of The Age is an effort to represent these diverse recordings under one roof with some additional surprises.

The expectations of Big Bang were, for the lack of a better word, big, especially considering the huge financial commitment of the production. The anticipation only was intensified by delays as well as rumors of the album also featuring House Of Lords vocalist James Christian. As it turns out, he only appears on the background vocals of the title track, which had a more prominent horn section than the pipes of Christian. Needless to say, the track is featured on End Of The Age. In fact, Big Bang is well-represented with five tracks, ranging from the progressive title track all the way to the more mainstream mid-tempo ballad “House Of Dreams.” The latter could have been a terrific crossover hit had it been given the correct promotional attention. Unfortunately, Big Bang was almost exclusively promoted in the Christian bookstore market and never seemed to find its niche. Ultimately, Cordola and Tamplin went their separate ways. Tamplin concentrated on his solo career, and as recently as 2003, he recorded the impressive Wake The Nations.

In contrast, Cordola decided to continue on with the band concept and tweaked the name to Magdalen and brought in the more soulful vocals of the relatively unknown Philip Bardowell. Rounded out with former House Of Lords bass player Chuck Wright, the new lineup would record the intentionally less-polished Revolution Mind that was engineered and mixed by Rolling Stone’s Charlie Watts. The album has three tracks featured on End Of The Age, courtesy of the title track, “Cave Of Hercules,” featuring Darrel Mansfield on harmonica and the soulful folk ballad appropriately titled “Soul Child.” Revolution Mind had less melodic hooks and placed greater emphasis on sophistication. If you enjoyed the challenging House Of Lords title The Power And The Myth, you would do well to seek out Revolution Mind.

After the recording of Revolution Mind, Ken Mary also decided his time was up, while Magdalen evolved into a threesome to record its final project in the form of the almost-unplugged EP entitled The Dirt. Its sole representation on End Of The Age is the very folksy “Bourbon Way” much in the tradition of the previously mentioned “Soul Child.” This intriguing EP also includes two stellar covers courtesy of Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs” and Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song.” Bardowell’s performance on both is absolutely stunning. Unfortunately, they are not featured on End Of The Age.

End Of The Age also includes seven previously unreleased eight-track demos of varying quality. Unfortunately, there is no reference as to the origins of the songs. However, they do feature Tamplin. The more impressive bonus tracks are the keyboard-driven “Long Way To Paradise,” which would give you an idea of what Giuffria may have sounded like anchored in Tamplin’s vocals. Meanwhile, “Golden Town” sounds more akin to Tamplin’s Shout era and also spotlights Cordola’s shredding. Unfortunately, the last two tracks may be very temperamental when played on the computer, but they play normally on a standard CD player. A slight annoyance to work around, but considering the 30 plus minutes of new material, it is tolerable.

Whether in the form of Magdallan or Magdalen, the artistic integrity of Cordola and Tamplin was a sight for sore eyes in an industry that tends to cater to the mainstream and discourages diversity. Ill-fated marketing decisions resulted in several misfires for the band including End Of The Age, which had changed record label ownership just as the album hit the street. So the patience of Job will be needed to find this little treasure, but your efforts will be rewarded richly.

Genre: Heavy Metal

Track Listing:
1. End Of The Ages
2. Caves Of Hercules
3. Big Bang
4. Soul Child
5. Dome Of The Rock
6. Love To The Rescue
7. House Of Dreams
8. Revolution Mind
9. Bourbon Street
10. Tumblin’ Down *
11. Long Way To Paradise*
12. Give All To Love *
13. Golden Town *
14. Danger In Your Eyes *
15. Walkin’ On The Edge*
16. Strange Fascination *

*Previously unreleased material

Label: KMG Records

Hardrock Haven rating: 8/10