OLIVER MAGNUM — Oliver Magnum (review)

OLIVER MAGNUM — Oliver Magnum album cover

Album · 1989 · US Power Metal

3/5 · 2015-08-30
Vim Fuego

In the past, thrash often copped flak for being a bit dumb, appealing to meatheads and longhaired no-hopers. By and large, thrash did attract a lot of fans like that, because it was hard music dealing with tough subjects. For that reason, Oliver Magnum would not have appealed to many of them. The band wasn’t the heaviest or fastest out there, but they were smart and sharp, and proved thrashers didn’t have to be dropkicks.

Oliver Magnum came from that seething hotbed of metal, Enid, Oklahoma, and as you’d expect from the raging Enid scene... Well, OK, Oliver Magnum probably WAS the Enid, Oklahoma scene in 1989, but think how much mileage Slipknot have made out of being small town country boys. This band may have disappeared into the mists of metal history now, but think of what a triumph it must have been even just to get signed.

This album thrashes something like late 80s Voivod, mixed with a bit of Maiden and with much clearer vocals. It chops and changes a bit, but it all seems to work. There are the normal thrash passages, but the songs are broken up with traditional metal laments (check “Old World Nites”), with the odd progressive influence thrown in. It is not your typical thrash by a long shot. The soloing is a bit over-the-top, but hey, 1989 was in the middle of the era of the guitar hero, so it’s excusable. There’s enough hard-out thrash riffing to make up for it anyway. Any band of the time would have been well proud of a guitarist like Monte Humphrey, because he was versatile enough to do pretty much anything in the metal sphere of the time, from sensitive semi-acoustic, to lead shredding to massive power chord riffing.

Oliver Magnum weren’t afraid of taking chances either. “Evilution” is a soaring power ballad in the style of Judas Priest’s “Dream Evil”. The song lets singer James Randel stretch his vocal talents, soaring and wailing as he creates images of humanity’s earliest beginnings. His voice is a theatrical tenor, not unlike Flotsam and Jetsam’s Eric AK minus the dog-bothering high pitched screams. Randel holds the melody of many of the songs, rather than letting the guitar rule. The lyrics he sings were not the usual violent or anti-Christian cliché thrash bands were keen on back in the day. Mostly, the lyrics are fantasy, of the prophets and demons genre, but not many bands would have been brave enough to touch on Greek mythology (“Sister Cybele”, “Mendes Prey”) or evolution.

Like Voivod and Overkill, and other single guitar thrash bands of the time, the bass is high in the mix, and has plenty to do. Bassist Dan Kurtz treated his instrument like a second guitar, but didn’t go over the top showing off his skills. He does a fairly good Steve Harris impression on “Mendes Prey”, galloping like the middle section of “Phantom Of The Opera”.

If you’re looking for a straightforward headbanging thrash album, try Exodus or S.O.D., because you won’t find it here. While it’s not earth-shatteringly brilliant, this album doesn’t take the path of least resistance and will make you think.

more than 2 years ago
Permalink
Report #312751

Share this review

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer

Please login to post a shout

Vim Fuego wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I actually discovered this band in about 1992 or 1993, from the one and only print 'zine I've ever acquired. The interview was a bit shit, but interesting. I must dig it out some time.

Unitron wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Sounds interesting, I should check them out. Nice review.

siLLy puPPy wrote:

more than 2 years ago

This album ranks 4369 on most popular charts on RYM. I've never heard them but apparently there's a good amount of metal heads who like this one quite a bit