THE MAGICIAN'S BIRTHDAY

Uriah Heep

Heavy Prog

3.85 | 687 ratings

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ttaylor102003

4.5

This album is one of my favorites from Uriah Heep. It features great vocals, great metal and acoustic guitars, great and underrated rhythm sections, and the ever-important keyboards of Ken Hensley. It starts off with Sunrise, one of my favorite Heep songs. It contains elements of prog and metal, and features some great organ. Spider Woman is the worst track on the album, because it is kind of just straight forward rock and roll, but its not terrible. Blind eye is a catchy rocking song with prog elements and great lyrics. Echoes in the Dark is a great atmospheric song, with catchy guitar solos, and great keyboard riffs, and great vocals and melodies. Rain is a slow ballad-type song, featuring lots of piano. It may be hard for you to get into, and, while it is great, it is probably my second to least favorite song on the album.

Side Two starts off with Sweet Lorraine, an upbeat, psychadellic (sp?) song, with great melodies, riffs, and lyrics. Tales is another slow acoustic ballad, and it is truly awesome. It features catchy riffs, with great synth licks from Hensley, and incredible vocals from Byron. The Album closes with the epic title track, which tells the story of how the Magician must battle a Demon at his birthday party. It features all kinds of great hard rock/classic metal riffs, although there is a middle section featuring the kazoo which I find to be a little bit goofy. But what with the extended guitar solos, great lyrics, and great vocals from Byron and Hensley, it more than makes up for it.

This is a dynamite album from Uriah Heep. I really think Uriah Heep may be one of the most important pioneers of progressive metal ever. Highlights include: Sunrise, Sweet Lorraine, Tales, The Magician's Birthday.

| 4/5 | 2005-7-13

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