{"id":38325,"date":"2014-03-11T09:26:39","date_gmt":"2014-03-11T14:26:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=38325"},"modified":"2014-03-11T09:26:39","modified_gmt":"2014-03-11T14:26:39","slug":"magnum-escape-from-the-shadow-garden-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2014\/magnum-escape-from-the-shadow-garden-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Magnum | Escape From The Shadow Garden<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Alexandra Mrozowska<\/span>
\n– Columnist —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"MagnumThe Birmingham-based Magnum belongs in the particular league of privileged bands, after the last few decades they\u2019re a band who does not need to prove anything anymore, and simply live up to their well-deserved reputation. For the audience enamored with their trademark Pomp Rock style and at least familiar with their 2012 On The 13th Day<\/em> album, its follow-up \u2013 their newest and soon-to-be-released Escape From The Shadow Garden<\/em> \u2013 will be a perfect continuation of this musical journey.<\/p>\n

Starting off with the epic six minutes long opener, \u201cLive \u2018Til You Die,\u201d Magnum blends their progressive and melodic rock influences together, a homage to their classic 1980s records. Similarly powerful is the significant part of the tracks on Escape From The Shadow Garden<\/em>, \u201cFalling For The Big Plan\u201d is one of the highlights among them, with its well-crafted chorus and captivating, catchy melody. <\/p>\n

The others are more modern-sounding \u201cCrying In The Rain\u201d and \u201cToo Many Clowns,\u201d both incredibly dynamic with the big marching drum sound of the former and a crunchy, aggressive guitar riff of the latter. There is also \u201cBurning River\u201d, which is a fine rocker with a distinguishable 1980\u2019s feel to it, as well as some modern touches here and there, and \u201cThe Art Of Compromise\u201d, initially a ballad-esque slow-down which soon evolves into a powerful keyboard-driven (and much 1980s-alike) track in vein of classic Magnum songs, such as \u201cSometime Love.\u201d <\/p>\n

Interesting is \u201cMidnight Angel\u201d with its acoustic intro, pounding keyboard sound and no monotony in spite of length (thanks to the surprising change of pace throughout the whole track). Apart from these, there is a place for charming, yet incredibly powerful ballads on the album as well (\u201cUnwritten Sacrifice,\u201d \u201cWisdom Had Its Day,\u201d \u201cDon\u2019t Fall Asleep\u201d and the final \u201cThe Valley Of Tears\u201d).<\/p>\n

Magnum\u2019s Escape From The Shadow Garden<\/em> follows a critically-acclaimed and well-received predecessor, the album thought by many to be one of the band\u2019s better if not best \u2013 and nevertheless remains a strong rival in this competition. It features a classic, keyboard-driven Pomp Rock sound, and yet at the same time, with its dense production, sounds fresh enough for a contemporary listener. Bob Catley\u2019s vocals are as good as ever, shining throughout the whole record \u2013 especially in the soaring power ballads \u2013 and being completed by the brilliant instrumental performances. Another great album of 2014, and highly recommended not only for Magnum die-hard fans. <\/p>\n

Genre: Melodic Rock, AOR, Pomp Rock<\/p>\n

Band:
\nBob Catley \u2014 Vocals
\nTony Clarkin \u2014 Guitar & Vocals
\nMark Stanway \u2014 Keyboards
\nAl Barrow \u2014 Bass Guitar
\nHarry James \u2014 Drums & Percussion <\/p>\n

Track List:
\n1. Live \u2018Til You Die
\n2. Unwritten Sacrifice
\n3. Falling For The Big Plan
\n4. Crying In The Rain
\n5. Too Many Clowns
\n6. Midnight Angel
\n7. The Art Of Compromise
\n8. Don\u2019t Fall Asleep
\n9. Wisdom\u2019s Had Its Day
\n10. Burning River
\n11. The Valley Of Tears<\/p>\n

Label: Steamhammer, SPV<\/p>\n

Web: <\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven rating: 9\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Alexandra Mrozowska – Columnist — The Birmingham-based Magnum belongs in the particular league of privileged bands, after the last few decades they\u2019re a band who does not need to prove anything anymore, and simply […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":38329,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10848],"tags":[8939,2317,8938,8937,2901,8940,1524,1859],"class_list":{"0":"post-38325","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2014","8":"tag-aor","9":"tag-cd-review","10":"tag-escape-from-the-shadow-garden","11":"tag-magnum","12":"tag-melodic-rock","13":"tag-pomp-rock","14":"tag-spv","15":"tag-steamhammer"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38325"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38325\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}