{"id":51611,"date":"2016-04-13T06:52:43","date_gmt":"2016-04-13T11:52:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=51611"},"modified":"2016-04-13T06:53:05","modified_gmt":"2016-04-13T11:53:05","slug":"magnum-sacred-blood-divine-lies-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2016\/magnum-sacred-blood-divine-lies-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Magnum | Sacred Blood ‘Divine’ Lies<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Justin Gaines<\/span>
\n– Senior Columnist —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Magnum\"Right on schedule, British Melodic\/Pomp Rock legends Magnum are back with a new studio album. It\u2019s titled Sacred Blood ‘Divine’ Lies<\/em>, and is their 18th studio release (19th if you count that acoustic album they did way back when). Since reuniting back in 2002, Magnum has maintained their lineup and has consistently released high quality Melodic Rock albums, and Sacred Blood ‘Divine’ Lies<\/em> is no exception. They\u2019ve even kept cover artist Rodney Matthews, who crafted so many classic Magnum cover images, on board.<\/p>\n

Even with as consistent as Magnum has been these past several years, their recent albums have varied between being instantly memorable (On the 13th Day<\/em>) and needing a few spins to sink in (Escape From the Shadow Garden<\/em>). Sacred Blood ‘Divine’ Lies<\/em> is in the latter category. On the first spin it\u2019s just kind of \u201cthere,\u201d with none of the songs really jumping out at you. A second spin starts to bring them home. Come back to it a week later and you suddenly realize you can sing along to every chorus and remember almost all of the melodies. That\u2019s a testament to guitarist Tony Clarkin\u2019s songwriting and his knack for knowing exactly the kind of melodies that work best with Bob Catley\u2019s instantly recognizable voice.<\/p>\n

The album starts off with the title track, which is the kind of epic pomp rock song that Magnum does so very well. \u201cPrincess in Rags (The Cult)\u201d and \u201cQuiet Rhapsody\u201d have that pomp grandeur as well. \u201cGypsy Queen\u201d and \u201cDon\u2019t Cry Baby\u201d are bit more catchy and straight-up Rock n\u2019 Roll songs, so they bring to mind the Hard Rain sound.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s almost unfair to use the term \u201cmore of the same\u201d to describe this album when \u201cthe same\u201d is so consistently good, and given just how much Sacred Blood ‘Divine’ Lies<\/em> grows on you. It does fall pretty much in line with the last several Magnum albums though, so if you\u2019ve enjoyed their output in the new millennium, there\u2019s no reason you won\u2019t like this one as well. It\u2019s also true enough to the classic Magnum sound that a fan from the On a Storyteller\u2019s Night<\/em>\/Vigilante days<\/em> should be able to immediately recognize Sacred Blood ‘Divine’ Lies<\/em> as a Magnum album.<\/p>\n

Edition Notes: The deluxe edition CD release of Sacred Blood ‘Divine’ Lies<\/em> features a bonus DVD with video clips for the title track and \u201cCrazy Old Mothers\u201d as well as three bonus songs set to a photo slideshow. It\u2019s frustrating not to have these songs as individual audio tracks on the CD. Hopefully the label will get them out in MP3 format at some point.<\/p>\n

Genre: Melodic Rock<\/p>\n

Lineup:
\nTony Clarkin (g) (v)
\nBob Catley (v)
\nMark Stanway (k)
\nAl Barrow (b) (v)
\nHarry James (d)<\/p>\n

Track Listing:
\n1.\tSacred Blood \u201cDivine\u201d Lies
\n2.\tCrazy Old Mothers
\n3.\tGypsy Queen
\n4.\tPrincess in Rags (The Cult)
\n5.\tYour Dreams Won\u2019t Die
\n6.\tAfraid of the Night
\n7.\tA Forgotten Conversation
\n8.\tQuiet Rhapsody
\n9.\tTwelve Men Wise and Just
\n10.\tDon\u2019t Cry Baby<\/p>\n

Label: SPV Records<\/p>\n

Website: www.magnumonline.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven Rating: 8\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Justin Gaines – Senior Columnist — Right on schedule, British Melodic\/Pomp Rock legends Magnum are back with a new studio album. It\u2019s titled Sacred Blood ‘Divine’ Lies, and is their 18th studio release (19th […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":51612,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13652],"tags":[10982,2317,8937,2901,12219,1460],"class_list":{"0":"post-51611","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2016","8":"tag-bob-catley","9":"tag-cd-review","10":"tag-magnum","11":"tag-melodic-rock","12":"tag-sacred-blood-divine-lies","13":"tag-spv-records"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51611","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=51611"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51611\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}