Here is not one but two albums for the collectors, from the early years of Magellan the San Francisco based progressive rockers. Magellan recorded their debut Hour Of Restoration in 1991 which also happened to be the first Magna Carta release. Impending Ascension followed and now they are being made available again, this time as a double CD. Trent and Wayne Gardner started the band in 1985 which is still active having released further Magellan albums and made contributions elsewhere over the years to other projects. Though a big part of the group is now sadly absent as Wayne Gardner a truly talented musician passed away in 2014. The songs of Magellan often take inspiration from the past and that is also reflected in their name taken from Ferdinand Magellan, an explorer who led the first circumnavigation of the earth.
Hour Of Restoration is an adventurous album, melodious and also complex at times with varying temperament, track lengths, and one that does also inspire thoughts of others including Genesis. The band set out to impress early on as they dived straight into an epic "Magna Carta" with a strong blend of guitars and keyboards. Magellan would return with even more extended tracks on their second album Impending Ascension though whether it's a stronger album is open to debate, I probably have a slight preference for their debut but the choice is made hard thanks to "Estadium Nacional", "Waterfront Weirdos" and the brief instrumental "No Time For Words" which are so impressive. These albums are showing their age as you would expect not helped by the absence of an actual drummer on Hour Of Restoration and the majority of Impending Ascension. But that is only a minor niggle as the artificial substitute got the job done with patterns that suited the material and wasn't an uncommon practice at the time. Not only is Double Feature a great value release, for anyone yet to hear Magellan or who may have been searching for these progressive albums it's the perfect opportunity to obtain them both.
Track Listing
"Hour Of Restoration"
1. Magna Carta
2. The Winner
3. Friends Of America
4. Union Jack
5. Another Burning
6. Just One Bridge
7. Breaking These Circles
8. Turning Point
"Impending Ascension"
1. Estadium Nacional
2. Waterfront Weirdos
3. Songsmith
4. Virtual Reality
5. No Time For Words
6. Storms And Mutiny
7. Under The Wire
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