There are few great bands on our planet that you can infallibly identify within the first few bars of one of their songs. Their unique melodic skill, their tasteful instrumentation, the right balance of depth and catchiness, and then of course that charismatic voice: Magnum are Magnum! The same can be said of their latest studio album ’Here Comes The Rain‘, which will be out on Steamhammer/SPV from January 12, 2024 on CD + DVD, double vinyl LP, as a box set and for digital download, proving once again that classic rock music could hardly sound more atmospheric. The band surrounding frontman Bob Catley and guitarist/songwriter Tony Clarkin are also set to release two lead singles on November 22, 2023 (“Blue Tango”) and January 3, 2024 (“The Seventh Darkness”) and a tour has been scheduled to kick off in early April 2024.
The album‘s highly inspired artwork again is designed by the great Rodney Matthews, who has already created a number of Magnum sleeves to support the band‘s atmospherically dense music. Says Tony Clarkin: “The back of the cover features a kind of avian battalion in attack mode, which I think is a great allegory!”
Apart from Magnum‘s typical trademarks, ’Here Comes The Rain‘ also holds a number of thoroughly pleasant surprises in store, such as ’Blue Tango‘, which is a real riff-rock number that makes you want to move your feet. Or ’The Seventh Darkness‘ with some awesome brass sections courtesy of guest musicians Chris ’BeeBe‘ Aldridge (saxophone) and Nick Dewhurst (trumpet), which lend the song brilliance and shape.
There can be no doubt about it: ’Here Comes The Rain‘ sees the Magnum line-up consisting of Catley, Clarkin, keyboardist Rick Benton, bassist Dennis Ward and drummer Lee Morris once again succeed in creating an outstandingly colourful, varied and inspired new studio album. “Everyone played their part without me dictating anything,” Clarkin enthuses, “everyone just instinctively played what their inspiration told them.” It‘s a good thing that these superb musicians can rely on their intuition
