INTO THE VALLEY OF THE MOONKING

A sort of return to the old form - British Pomp. Not a bad thing either. The first two tracks are excellent, Cry To Yourself and All My Bridges, they bounce along very nicely, though typical they do offer Magnum on their best form. However the album looses its way thereafter returning to rather mundane run of the mill rock by numbers, though The Moon King is the best of those other tracks. The obligatory ballad, the penultimate track - Feels like Treason, is catchy, this track gets under your skin, a very anthematic number. The final track,Blood On Your Barbed Wire Thorns, ain't too bad either, remeniscent of perhaps ACDC but with a distinctly British edge.

For a band that have been through the mill, there and back, Magnum have somehow survived the lot and continue produce great rock music; if elements of their previous two albums, Brand New Morning and Princess Alice And The Broken Arrow together with Into The Valley Of The Moonking had been released as an album they would have had a monster on their hands, as it is with only a few stand out tracks it remains only of real interest to Magnum fans or for those who are genuinely interested. Though with repeated listens the feeling of the album certainly improves. For the sake of those afore mentioned tracks and the ability to enthrall with additional listening, I'll grant a three star rating.