THE ELEVENTH HOUR

a very enjoyable album, excellent sound quality, very much in the style of "chase the dragon" , could be chase the dragon part 2, a good follow-up. if you liked "the dragon" you should be at home with "the eleventh hour". interesting though rather sinister cover art by Rodney Matthews- anyone remember the "ebay ghost" painting..?? all the songs on this album are good but no big epics here. the first track "the prize" has a nice acoustic guitar intro, leading into a very catchy chorus, lots of hooks to hang onto! my favourite track on the album. the next song "breakdown" is slower, awash with synths and a kick drum that bursts through the speakers! bit plodding this one, unlike "the great disaster" which contains some nice'n'heavy guitar riffs interspersed with synths. "viscious companions" starts off very similarly to "the spirit" and leads into catchy verses and a rather plodding chorus, "what you give is what you get" - well i suppose so! "so far away" is much more up tempo and is another favourite track, very catchy chorus. side two kicks of with a typical magnum heavy guitar riff-based song "hit and run" - air guitars at the ready....! i really liked "one night of passion" (who doesn't??) , it has quite a slow beat but is interspersed with some nice bass guitar and "bar room" synth piano effects. "the word" is a lot slower and ballad-like, for me the weakest track on the album, almost anthemic. the following track "young and precious souls" literally gallops along and builds up into a very catchy chorus, another album highlight. "road to paradise" contains some nice flanged and acoustic guitar, though the song is not outstanding. overall a good album for magnum fans but IMO lacks the outstanding songwriting of "chase the dragon". therefore good but non- essential!