THE MAGICIAN'S BIRTHDAY

Less than six months after the successful "Demons and Wizards" and still under the echoes of its resounding general acceptance, Uriah Heep released their fifth album, "The Magician's Birthday" (1972). A work that once again uses allegories and sorcery as a metaphorical thematic vehicle to transmit profound reflections on the existential questions of the human being and that have their correspondence with the surreal graphic design of the album (Roger Dean), loaded with symbolisms such as the confrontation between the Magician and the Devil and the expectant naked woman hiding behind the plants.

And despite respecting its hard rock roots in the intense and epic "Sunrise" with its Purplelian beginnings with Ken Hensley's keyboards and David Byron's powerful voice, the album has, on the one hand, a less aggressive orientation with more agile and direct tracks like the light blues rock of "Spider Woman", the semi-unplugged soft rock of "Blind Eye" and the lilting "Sweet Lorraine" and its catchy choruses. On the other hand, it tones down its revolutions to initiate a lysergic, dreamlike immersion with Mick Box's Floydian slide guitar on the hazy mid-tempo "Echoes In The Dark", with Hensley's emotive piano chords and Byron's mournful singing on the soulful "Rain", and with the atmospheric pedal steel guitar contributions of guest Brian Cole (renowned session musician) on the acoustic vaporousness of the introspective "Tales".

Finally, the Englishmen resort to changing harmonies in the convoluted "The Magician's Birthday", ranging from energetic hard rock, verses in ironic rhythm of the traditional Happy Birthday accompanied by the Kazoo (an informal 19th century wind instrument), intriguing sound effects preceding Box's lucid and generous guitar jams in counterpoint with Lee Kerslake's frenetic drumming, to Byron's falsetto voice to pompously close the most progressive piece of the album.

The very good "The Magician's Birthday" was the break point that imaginatively marks the end of Uriah Heep's most brilliant period, after which the band's musical proposals would gradually become duller.

3.5/4 stars

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