N'MONIX

I didn't know who Nick Magnus was until I read a review about his newest record and then I saw he played with Steve Hackett at his record "Spectral mornings"(and many more) which is one of my favourite records. I tried to listen to a couple of Nick Magnus' own songs and I heard from first moment it was great music. Nick Magnus plays keyboards and has done that for a long time in many prog bands and elsewhere. Since 1993 he has also made some solo records (with a band of course). This year's "N'Monix" is his fifth record and fans of him have waited for four years. The cover shows a stone box with a watch in the bottom and an insect in front of it. It has a length of a long vinyl and features a long row of great musicians such as Steve Hackett(guitar), Rob Townsend(saxophone and flute) and the vocalists Tony Patterson, Pete Hicks, Tim Bowness, James Reeves, Kate Faber and Andy Neve. Nick Magnus sings as well on "Headcase".

Nick Magnus here has created a very pleasant prog record with music it's hard to not like. "N'Monix" contains symphonic rock with great vocalists, empathetic lyrics and a big variation that keep your interest high during the whole listening sessions. My favourite song is found in the middle of the album: "Eminent Victorians" with Pete Hicks on vocals. That is in my opinion the most symphonic and exciting track here and it is almost as good as it can be(9/10). "Entropy" is a fine closer(8/10) and the saxophone of Townsend and the guitar of Hackett shine on "Broken"(8/10). "Kombat Kid"(8/10) is the fourth of the greatest songs on the album, a song with an inspiring poetic text too. When this album is so even, there are no sights of bad songs and the seet "Memory" gets my lowest rating(6/10).

I recommend the whole record to prog listeners who like symphonic rock of the old style or fans of Steve Hackett as well. Nick Magnus should be proud of this album and I rate it 3.75 which becomes four stars! Best song: "Eminent victorians"