Magellan — Impending Ascension (1993)
Now and then we take a look back at one of the reviews from our ever-growing archive to see if the album has stood the test of time. We did a series of this in 2015, when DPRP had its 20th anniversary, and this series was first published on a dedicated blog, thearchivesofprog.blogspot.com. We did a series like this in 2018, when we had done 20 years of album reviews, under the title 20 Years Of Reviews.
Jerry van Kooten
When I first heard Magellan's debut album at a friend's place, I was impressed. Soon after I bought this second album and the melodic bombast blew me away. My then fellow team member Dirk van den Hout didn't like it much though.
Hearing back this album for this article, I recognise what I liked back then, but this part of my taste has gone. (I do like my music very heavy though!) I now hear the patchwork of pieces that do not necessarily fit into a longer piece (something I recognised right away in the music by Shadow Gallery). I tend to call this too "American" - too much head, not enough heart (a common problem in prog, I have to add). It just feels cold to me.
Read why Dirk van den Hout thought this album was only worth a score of 5.5 in his review from the DPRP archives in 1998
Read it here.
Listen to the track Waterfront Weirdos.
Listen now.