| Breath of Life | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 25 February 2002 | |||
| Recorded | 2001–2002 | |||
| Studio | Mad Hat Studios, Wolverhampton United Kingdom | |||
| Genre | Rock | |||
| Length | Regular: 58:49 Limited: 74:58 Disc 2: 00:00 | |||
| Label | SPV | |||
| Producer | Tony Clarkin | |||
| Magnum chronology | ||||
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| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [1] |
| MelodicRock.com |   [2] |
Breath of Life is the 12th studio album by English rock band Magnum. It was released in 2002 by SPV.
Breath of Life is Magnum's comeback album after a break of more than six years. The album marks the return of Bob Catley (vocalist), Tony Clarkin (guitarist) and Mark Stanway (keyboards). Clarkin produced the album during summer 2001 at the Mad Hat Studios in Wolverhampton.
Clarkin says, "The break since the middle of the Nineties was definitely necessary for me. Since the end of the Seventies, in fact since we embarked on the preparations for our debut recording Kingdom of Madness, not a single month had gone by in which I didn't work for Magnum, composed for the group, or at least thought of them permanently. For almost twenty years, all my thoughts had revolved around the band. I needed a break to clear my head and to be able to devote myself to the band again with renewed energy."[3] – Tony Clarkin, 2002.
During his sabbatical, Clarkin worked as a producer, wrote songs for other artists and brought out two albums with Hard Rain together with Bob Catley. Both "Still" and "Dream About You" were demoed by Clarkin and Sue McCloskey. Bob Catley has stated that Breath of Life presented a mix between the styles of Magnum and Hard Rain.[4]
The album was originally intended to be a double CD release containing a free CD of old Magnum material. However, SPV reduced the package to a limited edition version including three additional tracks on a single CD to lower costs. The double CD was released in Japan.[5]
All of the drum parts on the album are drum samples or were played by Tony Clarkin.[5]
- ^ AllMusic review
- ^ MelodicRock.com review Archived 29 August 2007 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Magnum Archived 14 May 2003 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Interview with Bob Catley of Magnum, Rok Podgrajšek. therocktologist.com, 2012.
- ^ a b Magnum | Interview | Lords of Metal metal E-zine – Issue 14: March 2002