Magnum – Here Comes the Rain – 2024

Here Comes the Rain is the 23rd studio album by English rockers Magnum. I must admit that I went into the listening session for this album a bit biased. I don’t know why, but I’ve always had the feeling that they were not genuine Hardrock enough to be taken seriously. But in the short time that Here Comes the Rain has been out, I’ve heard a lot of good about it. I don’t know if it has something to do with that it came out only five days after the death of co-founding guitarist Tony Clarkin. If I understand it correctly, he was also the sole songwriter for the band so I guess there will be no future now. To me, it feels as if Phil Campbell and Mikkey Dee had continued on with Motörhead after Lemmy’s death. It’s just not possible.

But I was never into Magnum. I always thought they had cool cover art and all that but the music was always too “light” for me. And when I say always, I mean those couple of times in my youth when I actually took the time to listen to them. Everything after that was just prejudice. So I kinda missed the boat because when I listened to Here Come the Rain I thought it was pretty good. It’s not straight rock n roll and it’s not hard and heavy. But it doesn’t need to be. These are not only rock songs, they are composed rock songs, there is a difference.

Composed Rock

The first category can be jammed together, written as you go along. “oh, that’s a cool riff right there, let’s use it and see what we come up with”. The Composed rock songs are different. Those a thought through. Not only are the main instruments, guitars, bass, and drums crafted, but there are also other elements you can put in there. If a song needs string, you add it in the manifesto so to speak. If a song needs brass, despite it being a Hardrock song, then you just add it. You don’t think so much about the image and what people expect it to be, You write songs you like and you can make them as complex as you need them to be.

That’s what I feel when listening to Here Comes the Rain. A very fitting title, by the way, considering Tony Clarkin’s passing away. I feel like this is a very well-thought-through album. Some songs are not as attractive to my ears as others. But that is nothing new. There are always favorite songs on any album and very v e r y few albums are perfect all the way through. For me, this isn’t a perfect album. I thought the first half or so was kinda boring. But then something happened that made me feel alive and participate in the listening process on a totally different level. I like this. I need more Magnum!