It is incredible, but this grand old band, mainstays of the British hard/blues rock circuit, have been active now for 50 years. I was 8 years old when they formed in Birmingham, part of a great tradition of working class bands from what was then an overwhelmingly industrial and dirty city.

My association with them goes back to 1982’s classic, Chase The Dragon. I saw them live a couple of times, both, incidentally, supporting Marillion. They were great in 1986’s The Garden Party at Milton Keynes Bowl, the apex of the Fish success years, and then on Hogarth’s first tour with Marillion promoting Season’s End at Wolverhampton Civic Hall. Looking back on some past reviews, I last wrote about the band for 2011’s The Visitation, and a damned fine album it was too.

So, how does 2022 find the Tony Clarkin & Bob Catley vehicle? Well, in pretty fine fettle really. The Monster Roars is simply yet another hugely enjoyable slab of pomp/blues rock infused with prog sensibilities. Although it is very clearly tinged with multiple references to the human condition of aging, it is, to these ears, just the sort of album needed when you want to banish the personal blues. Clarkin remains a fine guitarist, I have always loved the voice of his co-vocalist Catley, whilst the band is completed by the wonderful Rick Benton on keyboards, and he is all over this album, Lee Morris on drums, and Dennis Ward on bass guitar. There is a track called I Won’t Let You Down – on this and every other piece, they certainly do not.

As ever, lyrically the band deliver intelligent, thoughtful words to tell the musical story. The final two tracks, Come Holy Man and Can’t Buy Yourself A Heaven are particularly good examples of this. The former is my personal favourite, a really strong piece of music which wears its scepticism of priesthood (of whatever religion) and agnosticism on its sleeve, whilst the more subdued final track rightly advises that it is our core humanity which is so important, not the facile promises of riches and celebrity our culture is so obsessed with.

The title track kicks off proceedings with its evocation of children watching the eponymous beast roar and perform. It is a thoughtful track, and you know from the outset you are in for a typically decent listen.

Remember is a fine classic rock track reminiscing about “the good old days” of classic music, life highlights, “fire” (as in the fire of youth), and fashion. The piano at the close of this track is particularly evocative.

The Present Not The Past is a delicious romp. “Wisdom is living, the Joker he laughed”, this is one of the most joyful five minutes you will spend of a day when it is on and is especially important to me, in that living the moment you are in is so important as opposed to constantly looking back.

No Steppin’ Stones has a live crowd cheering at the start and I love the brass on this raucous, joyful track.

That Freedom Word is a heavily blues-tinged track, with fine guitar solos throughout. It starts as a traditional rocker, but some 2:50 in there is a very introspective passage with the keys emphasising the central message of how precious our freedoms are.

Your Blood is Violence is simply marvellous and I take this track lyrically as slamming the modern culture of greed and its disastrous impact upon our planet. 4.30 minutes in, there is such a huge time signature change, and the guitar literally sings the blues. Thoroughly anthemic, and really very, very good indeed.

Walk The Silent Hours has a gentle piano and rhythm section to begin with before morphing into that type of blues-infused track they do so well. The Day After The Night Before is simply a great heavy rock track, with its highlight a divine keyboard burst a couple of minutes in.  

Long term fans of Magnum will lap this album up and those of you who are not familiar with this grand old act would do a lot worse than to start off here. The good news is that the band still have an album to do in their record contract and have no plans to retire. Great news!