Magnum - Princess Alice And The Broken Arrow

Published January 28 2008

*=Staff's pick	When We Were Younger* Eyes Wide Open* Like Brothers We Stand* Out Of The Shadows* Dragons Are Real* Inside Your Head Be Strong Thank You For The Day Your Lies Desperate Times You'll Never Sleep*

Genre	Melodic Hard Rock	Bob Catley	Vocals
Tracks	11	Tony Clarkin	Guitar
Runningtime	63 Min.	-	Guitar
Label	SPV	Al Barrow	Bass
Release	26 March 2007	Jimmy Copley	Drums
Country	England	Mike Stanway	Keyboard
Similar artists	Bob Catley, TNT, Hard Rain

Third album from the British kings of melodic hard rock since the reunion in the early second millennium and their 13th studio album since their start in the late 70's. And their form curve is continuing to rise. Breath of Life was a promising come back album, Brand New Morning took things one step further without really breaking any ground. But with Princess Album and the Broken Arrow Magnum continues to impress and comes up with the strongest release since the magic Wings of Heaven 20 years ago. The magic, mysticism and pompousness are effortlessly recaptured here while the melodic hard rock/AOR orientation keeps vibrating strongly. Legendary Rodney Matthews has once again (like on so many of their previous album covers) been the artist responsible for the booklet cover art so in more than just the musical aspect this album's really a reminder of what made us all fall desperately in love with the band's splendor in the first place.

The first five songs of the album are easily among the strongest material Magnum has ever come up with, which really should be saying a whole lot. The listener is being presented some simply amazing songs with some of the best choruses in the band's entire discography. The classical guitar solo on the opening When We Were Younger, the touch of the 70's Magnum on Eyes Wide Open, the beautiful lyrics and pace of Like Brothers We Stand, Clarkin's mandatory war inspired Out of the Shadows and the mythical Dragons Are Real are inexorably gripping installments. There's a terrific flow and the songs just seem to have the sole purpose of being right there at that particular time, played just so with huge portions of dedication and sensitivity.

After those initial numbers the musical story line changes viewpoint and we're introduced to a couple of more standard deliveries. Even though one realizes that what started just can't continue without writing all time hard rock history it almost comes to a too abrupt stop with the mandatory ballad Inside Your Head. Not a bad one but together with the rockier Be Strong the album looses much of its initial amazing momentum. The Hard Rain inspired simplicity and directness of Your Lies, the 80's subtleness on Desperate Times and the excellent AOR closer You'll Never Sleep luckily disarm much of the caused ill-effect, but still without fully restoring the initial quintet's stardom status.

That said about the numbers individually, each song is also presented with its divergent issue and the overall sound bridges greatly between past and more modern Magnum compositions. It of course goes without saying that the music in general is as always huge in ways of skill, professionalism and musical accomplishment. The arrangements are powerful and right on the spot, Clarkin is proving that his fantastic composing skills still are very much alive and Bob Catley as always shows what an outstanding vocalist he is. They also so fluidly keep on combining a sense of mythic power with their richly envisioned melodic hard rock in the ways that just make Magnum such a great and unique sounding band. The sound landscape this time feels a bit heavier, sometimes bordering on the realms of heavy metal, where some more distinct riffing changeups and for the genre pretty intense drumming are the main contributors.

The cover speaks volumes of the classic On a Storyteller's Night but I wouldn't go as far as saying that this album reaches those levels, let alone the brilliant Wings of Heaven. It could have been with a more even set list but the absence of the real Magnum epic opus, some small tendencies of filler material and a little too much ballad whining still force me to hold back a little in the final judgment and putting it on the same high grounds as those two legends. Still this band has since the very start afflicted me with great awe and with this release they definitely continue with that. Alice and the Broken Arrow is just tailor made for the already existing fans and for you who find solace in world class quality melodic and pompous hard rock. A true shining beacon on the 2007 ocean of releases.

Performance	Originality	Production	Vocals	Songwriting
8	8	8,5	8,5	8,5

Summary
8,5 chalices of 10 - Mat