11/05/08 - Red Planet reviewed in The Noise
THE VITAL MIGHT
Magma Music
Red Planet
10-song CD
The urge to create a concept album seems to come from one of two impulses: to impress the bejabers out of the hoi polloi, or as a desperation move. Well, color me impressed. The title track, “Phantom Spaceman,” sets the theme and gives us a taste of that old Genesis/King Crimson progginess, and “The Truth” is a remarkably catchy and appealing, if somewhat lyrically simplistic followup. But “City” knocks it out of the park: it’s lyrically superb and emotionally evincing. The turbulent and reverberant “Trouble” seems strategically placed to carry the story along, and the melancholy instrumental “Chime” is deftly positioned to slow it down. “Saturday,” with its overtones of U2-style grandeur, brings us back to the narrative. The echoic “Seasons” provides another interlude, and then comes the magnificent slow-to-ecstatic centerpiece “5 O’Clock.” The Metallaesque impetus of “Superstitious Wish” provides a climax of sorts, and the final track provides a somewhat ambiguous denouement. I do not completely buy into the premise of their high concept “rescue the fair maiden from Mobsters on Mars” premise, but one doesn’t have to. The music carries the theme along far more effectively than the backstory. And each individual song can be appreciated on its own terms and outside of any larger context. I’m not sure whether this is a deathless classic, but it’s well and carefully planned, and I strongly suspect it might well be. Bravo. (Francis DiMenno)
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