Produced By Lenny Wolf
- Living Dynamite
- No Murderer I Kiss
- 24 Hours
- So Unreal
- When I Was
- Over You
- Sweet Killing
- Unwritten Language
- Hey Mama
- The Machine Inside
- Feeding The Flame
In case you forgot, Kingdom Come was the band that arrived during the pinnacle of the metal scene in the 80's, and had an uncanny aural resemblance to Led Zeppelin, which may have worked against them, resulting in a critical, but deserved, backlash.
Kenny Wolf, the heart and soul behind Kingdom Come, remains the only original member, delivering the band's 13th album release, "Magnified."
The Zeppelin sound is still there, but more so in musical influence, and not so much the blatant rip-offs, that their debut release had to offer. But, listening to "Magnified," I believe think Wolf and Co. would have been better off, had they stayed to their original format.
All tracks were written, produced, and engineered, solely by Wolf, who dares to venture into more risky territory, instead of playing it safe. Overall, the 11-tracks are moody, dark, and almost gothic-like in their delivery. Unfortunately, there isn't really anything that stands out. "Living Dynamite" is the first track, and it is a slow, almost hypnotic song, but definitely not the way to get things going. It builds up, drawing us in, but never really goes anywhere. "No Murderer I Kiss," a cry-out against war, and inhumanity, lack the lyrical bite that is needed to truly get the point across. It begins bluesey, but, again, doesn't truly take us anywhere.And this is how the rest of "Magnified" is played out. It is the musical equivalent of a dog chasing its tail.
There are no fast rocking tunes to be found, and perhaps, in all fairness, that wasn't Wolf's intent. But Kingdom Come fans will expect a little more metal, and a lot more bite, for their buck here, and will grow impatient, rather quickly here. Only "Hey Mama" ever finds a groove, with its dynamic drum beat to kick it off. But, considering it is track number 9, it's a little too late.
I can't help but think, "Magnified" is a little too adventurous, preferring to take us into a dreamy state of mind, rather than just simply "rocking us." Obviously, Wolf had some good intentions, but didn't seem to know how to follow thru here. An outside writer or two, not to mention someone other than himself producing, could have easily turned this from a sleeper, into something interesting. Wolf fails himself, but worse, also fails the listener. "Kingdom Come" has continued to deliver albums, over the past 20 years, in Europe, but for the most part, remain unheard from, during that span, in the United States. And if he continues with his ambitious, but pretentious, and overall unsatisfying musical offerings, like he has done here, that trend will continue.
