The Rings of Power

The album takes the listener on a guided tour of the rings of the city serving as the setting for the story of the Indigo Child. As is evident by the track titles, each ring houses an increasingly well-off subculture with the center being the tower of the ruler. While the lyrics do an excellent job of highlighting the societal issues of each area (more on this later), the music doesn’t always follow suit. The album has a very unified musical theme, which is almost synth-rock and disco. While it helps the album have a more cohesive feel, it doesn’t necessarily always turn out well. For this reviewer, possibly the most glaring examples of this problem lie in “Ring 4 – Patrol” and “Ring 2 – Nature.” The former discusses the faction of the society used to enforce oppression on the population and the power-hungry officers who abuse their privileges, but having Casey nearly scream about police abuse over a funky beat doesn’t quite sound right. The latter similarly did not seem to fit with the theme of the lyrics (on top of the fact that I couldn’t actually understand the society within “Ring 2” and admittedly need to re-listen to it).

When Magnum released 2018's Lost on the Road to Eternity, keyboardist Rick Benton replaced Mark Stanway, who'd quit (for the third time) in the middle of a tour. The album's razor-edged, riff-laden hard rock sound contrasted with the plodding bombast and balladry of 2016's Sacred Blood "Divine" Lies that, frankly, sounded tired. Longtime drummer Harry James left in 2017 and was replaced by Lee Morris. The resulting tour was wonderfully documented on 2018's surprising On the Road to Eternity live outing. Finally, in June of 2019, Al Barrow, the band's bassist since 2001, retired from music. American Dennis Ward claimed the spot just before Magnum entered the studio to record The Serpent Rings. Founding members guitarist Tony Clarkin and singer Bob Catley are the only remnants from the 20th century. As evidenced on their 21st studio album, the personnel changes stoked the fire in the bellies of these two mainstays.