Chase The Dragon - Magnum > Reviews > One Sacred Hour

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Groundbreaking
Lyrics	Thought-provoking
Quality and consistency of tracks	Flawless
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Outstanding
Value for Money

Advantages:	-
Disadvantages:	-

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

All bands who manage to enjoy longevity will at some point produce that one defining piece of work that sums up the essence of the band and acts as a benchmark for the rest of their music. Led Zeppelin had "4" , Pink Floyd had Dark Side of The Moon, and for many people Magnums finest hour was 1982s Chase The Dragon, the distilation of everything they were about. After a string of albums that resulted in only moderate success, Chase The Dragon put the band on the map, a combination of the improved songwriting that comes from experience and hard work and the inclusion of new boy Mark Stanway and his grandoise keyboard sound made this the most successsful album to date and one of the best loved to this day.

The overall sound of the band is a mix of melodic guitars, progressive structures, glorious harmonies, big keyboards and straight forward heavy rock, the lyrics in places do sound a bit dated but manage to stay just out of the category of cliche, that many bands succumbed to in this the golden era of "the new wave of British heavy metal" as it was known. Above all Magnum are a very English sounding band and it was only their move to USA to record in the later part of their career that hastened their demise. On this album you hear the sound of a band coming of age and entering a golden period that would result in three classic albums, but this is where it all began.

A swirling drone rises to be joined by gunshots and the random noises of battle before the band power in to start Soldier of the Line. A mix of unaccompanied vocal and power chords the song wanders through arange of dynamic before it hits its mark and turns into a full on guitar based rock anthem, almost medieval sounding riffs fly through the gaps between the contemporary instruments and a rich full bodied chorus of voices fight with the guitar for the limelight. As this comes to an abrupt end you get the first treatment of the new keyboard direction as Stanway leads into On the Edge of The World, again a melodic power guitar from Tony Clarkin leads the way, less dramatic that the opening track this song is a straighter number. Drummer Kex Gorin and bassist Wally Lowe laying down a driving backbeat that turns around on a sixpence and punchy accents that provide the focal point of the beat.

This album contained many classic songs that the newly reformed Magnum still include in their set today and the next track, The Spirit, is one of them. Acoustic guitar and vocals provide a gentle lilt into the song but just as you think that you are in the predictable realms of the rock ballad, bang...big guitars and big vocals steal the song and bring it back to the familiar Magnum territory. In the quieter moments the keyboard meanders through, having taken on the guise of a harpsicord, that Englishness in their music coming to the fore.

MArk Stanways opportunity to show his talent comes in the form of Sacred Hour which opens with a mix of keyboards. Sounding like a one man orchestra in a concert hall he ranges from mellow to epic and back agin before laying off the volume to let Bob Catleys voice to shine through. The song is a tribute and homage to the feeling dirived from playing live music, the hopes and fears pinned on a performance and the realisation that all of those years of hard work do finally pay off in that one sacred hour that the band are on stage.

Walking the Straight Line is the closest that the band come to AOR, but are still rocky enough to avoid the blandness thatmost bands in that category succumb to. We All Play the Game is one of the lighter numbers and smacks in places of a progressive rock band, keyboards nominate over an acoustic guitar, but the change of time signatures and the vocal harmonies make it into an interesting and very infectious sing along number, lighter than most of the album, but still very Magnum.

The Teacher, by contrast is pure rock, guitars grind and riffs spiral around the pounding drums, broken up in places by clever middle structures but returning to the full on attack of Clarkins guitar at regular intervals, and driving the song to its conclusion. The Lights Burned Out comes on as a gentle piano ballad, but by now you know that the band would not resort to anything that straight forward, and just when you think that you know what the songs about, it kicks into an epic chorus, lighters in the air and sing-along audiences are springing to mind. hen its all over bar one last guitar solo, and then the one sacred hour that they sang so passionately about is up.....

....thats if you have the original album. If you manage to get hold of the 1999 remaster then you get four bonus tracks. These where originally released as a two single vinyl package and gives you three live tracks (Back To Earth, Hold Back Your Love and Soldier of the Line) and Long Days Black Nights.

So if you want to treat yourself to one of the quintessentially English rock albums of the eighties then this is for you, in these days of extreme sounding unmelodic, industrial grinder rock, it is often refreshing to be able to take a journey back to a time when music was more innocent and this album is a good place to head for.