The release of their latest album ‘Lost On The Road To Eternity’ sees British hard rock band Magnum celebrate a very special anniversary on 19 January 2018. It will be the 20th studio recording by the group surrounding founder members Bob Catley (vocals) and Tony Clarkin (guitar) since their 1978 debut ‘Kingdom Of Madness’. At the same time, Clarkin, Catley and bassist Al Barrow are set to introduce their current line-up featuring new additions Rick Benton (keyboards) and Lee Morris (drums). Benton joined the Magnum camp in December 2016 to replace long-standing member Mark Stanway, while Morris took over from Harry James only a few months ago.
‘Lost On The Road To Eternity’ contains eleven new songs, among them the first single release Without Loveand a duet by Catley and Tobias Sammet on the title track, a kind of artistic thank you by the Edguy /Avantasia frontman in appreciation of Catley’s guest stint on a number of Sammet’s releases.
The release will once again be complemented by Rodney Matthews’s atmospheric cover artwork as well as a total of four live bonus tracks on the CD digipak version (´Sacred Blood – Divine Lies`, ´Crazy Old Mothers`, ´Your Dreams Won`t Die` & ´Twelve Men Wise And Just`) recorded at Magnum’s 2017 performance at the Leyendas Del Rock festival in Alicante, Spain.
‘Lost On The Road To Eternity’ has been scheduled for release by Steamhammer/SPV on 19 January 2018 as digipak version incl. bonus live disc, 2LP coloured version, download and stream.
TRACKLISTING:
CD 1
1. Peaches and Cream 4:54
2. Show Me Your Hands 5:45
3. Storm Baby 6:13
4. Welcome to the Cosmic Cabaret 8:08
5. Lost on the Road to Eternity 5:54
6. Without Love 5:55
7. Tell Me What You’ve Got to Say 6:27
8. Ya Wanna Be Someone 5:56
9. Forbidden Masquerade 5:02
10.Glory to Ashes 5:35
11. King of the World 7:04
CD 2 (Bonus Live Disc)
1. Sacred Blood – Divine Lies 6:48
2. Crazy Old Mothers 5:35
3. Your Dreams Won’t Die 5:56
4. Twelve Men Wise And Just 6:21
Magnum are scheduled to embark on a major European tour from January to April 2018:
Long Branch Records is proud to announce the signing of the french progressive metal sextet UNEVEN STRUCTURE. Their new album La Partition, which they’ve worked on for almost four years now, will be released internationally in Spring 2017.
La Partition is a full concept album and the follow-up to the bands first EP “8” (2009) and their debut full-length “Februus” (2011) which both received great feedback and critical acclaim.
A truly exciting prospect for the future of heavy music, UNEVEN STRUCTURE disassemble and reconstruct the metal genre we all know and love by creating contemporary atmospheric movements that are all at once dripping with seductive cinematic ambience and groove-laden riffs.
Since their critically acclaimed debut album Februus in 2011, Uneven Structure have been hard at work touring, writing, touring and making videos. Although only their second album, the anticipation for La Partition and new material is at an all-time high.
Comments guitarist Igor Omodei:“While not being a fresh start, La Partition is a very different beast from what we’ve released in the past. So it made sense for us to move over to the SPV/ Longbranch Records team to back our evolution both as artists and individuals. We can’t wait to see these five years of work to unfold over the next weeks. See you on the other side and cheers to you all!”
See Uneven Structure live:
25.02.17 – Haarlem – Complexity Fest, Netherlands
01.04. 17 – Sucy-en-Brie – Heart Sound Metal Fest, France
29.09.17 -01.10.17 – Cologne – Euroblast Festival, Germany
ABOUT UNEVEN STRUCTURE:
Hailing from France, one of the biggest markets and breeding stock for bands within the Tech Metal and Progressive Rock scene, Uneven Structure was formed in may 2008 from the intention of Benoit Friedrich (bass) and Igor Omodei (guitar) to finally bring the technically enhanced and progressive music they had been working on for themselves alive. The sound they were aiming to create was a one of a kind merger of groovy polyrythmic guitar riffs with huge slick of ambient guitar leads, which they undoubtedly accomplished.
Since the release of the debut album “Februus” in 2011 the band did multiple European tours with tech metal and prog rock genre-leaders such as Protest The Hero, Textures or Tesseract and performed at festivals such as Brutal Assault or Euroblast. While listening to the new album “La Partition” you will hear and feel the progress and growing the band made since “Februus”, due to the fact that their sound is now even more complex and perfectly arranged, catchy, experimental and technically enhanced, but also groovy. A perfect combination of the hardness of metal with the elaborate techniques of prog and the atmospheric sounds of ambient.
Not only has the sound of Uneven Structure been growing and changing with this new album, but also the band internally. With Arnaud Verrier on drums (ex Zuul FX and Kadinja) and Steeves Hostin (Beyond The Dust) as guitarist the band is more than perfectly prepared to continue their legacy, but also to open a new chapter in their musical career by performing mindblowing live shows all over the world.
Line Up:
Arnaud Verrier – Drums
Benoit Friedrich – Bass
Igor Omodei – Guitar, Production, Videos
Jérôme Colombelli – Guitar
Matthieu Romarin – Vocals, Production
Steeves Hostin – Guitar
Mighty British melodic hard rock group Magnum are set to release their magnificent new studio album ‘Sacred Blood “Divine” Lies’, on Steamhammer / SPV on February 26th, as a limited edition DigiPak CD (with bonus DVD), standard Jewel Case CD, double gatefold vinyl with printed inner sleeves + CD (in paper sleeve), and download.
‘Sacred Blood “Divine” Lies’, a hugely stirring, uplifting opus, is a notably heavier, harder offering than its much acclaimed predecessor, ‘Escape From The Shadow Garden’, and is packed with even more of Magnum’s massive trademark rousing rock melodies. The band have also lined up a 15 concert headline UK tour in support of the album, from May 11th through to May 30th; dates are:-
11th May SOUTHAMPTON The Brook
12th May CARDIFF Tramshed
13th May LONDON Islington Assembly Hall
14th May OXFORD 02 Academy
16th May NORWICH Waterfront
17th May NOTTINGHAM Rock City
19th May BIRMINGHAM 02 Institute
20th May HOLMFIRTH Picturedome
21st May MANCHESTER Academy 2
22nd May NEWCASTLE 02 Academy
24th May ABERDEEN Garage
25th May GLASGOW Garage
27th May BELFAST Limelight 1
29th May BRISTOL 02 Academy
30th May LEAMINGTON SPA Assembly
Magnum mastermind Tony Clarkin started working on the resounding new album even before ‘Escape From The Shadow Garden’ crashed into the UK Album Chart at 38, (the band’s first top 40 album chart position for over 20 years), on release in March 2014.
“I usually start composing for our next album immediately after the release of the previous one,” Clarkin recalls, continuing “When ‘Escape…’ arrived at the stores in March 2014, my thoughts had already turned to our next recording.”
Clarkin was inspired to write 25 new songs during and after the subsequent triumphant European tour, the most outstanding 13 of which were selected for ‘Sacred Blood “Divine” Lies’. Ten of the numbers made it onto the standard album CD and another three onto the DigiPak bonus DVD, which also contains videos for three of the brand new songs on the album.
The epicentre of this soundquake features, along with frontman Bob Catley’s charismatic voice, Clarkin’s awesome riffing and hard driving lead guitar licks, which provide the all-important substructure to each of the ten gems of songs on the album.
‘Sacred Blood “Divine” Lies’ counts without a doubt among the group’s most dynamic releases; Clarkin states that “I’ve always been into rock numbers. But it isn’t necessarily that easy to write really good rock material. It’s much more simple to compose a ballad. But that dynamic pace suits Magnum perfectly.”
Nowhere is this more evident than on the title track and album opener; “I feel that Bob delivered it really well,” Clarkin praises his vocalist Bob Catley. “As far as I am concerned, ‘Sacred Blood “Divine” Lies’ is definitely likely to join the ranks of great Magnum classics.” So it comes as no surprise that ‘Sacred Blood “Divine” Lies’, with its significant message, became the album title.
Among the other multiple highlights on this thoroughly powerful recording, mention must be made of the anthemic ‘Gypsy Queen’, which Tony was inspired to write after a concert in St. Petersburg, a city which deeply impressed him with its unique atmosphere.
By no means less memorable is ‘Your Dreams Won’t Die’ which is based on a cascading piano chord sequence, reflecting the song’s poignant philosophical message. “To me, the title and lyrics have an almost religious depth,” says Clarkin. “There’s a saying that somebody is not forgotten if their name is remembered.” A successful rock group like Magnum should be entitled to eternal renown, shouldn’t it? Says Clarkin: “You want my honest opinion? I don’t think that far ahead, but of course it’s a nice notion that this band may always be remembered because so many people love our music.”
And last but not least: ‘Sacred Blood “Divine” Lies’ closes with a song which surprised even Clarkin; “I liked the general sound of ‘Don’t Cry Baby’ from the start,” he remarks. “Although I initially didn’t have a lyric, the melody kept going through my head, as well as the chorus with acoustic and e-guitars plus piano. We even kept the drums from the demo version because our drummer Harry James liked them so much. He said: “I love it the way it is. We shouldn’t change a thing about it”.”
‘Sacred Blood “Divine” Lies’, the cover of which has once again been designed by renowned fantasy artist Rodney Matthews (Nazareth, Asia), is a stupendous record, packed with soon-to-be-proclaimed-classic, majestic hard rock compositions.
