OC Music Magazine

Bruce Forrest

     You may remember Kingdom Come arriving at the pinnacle of the 80?s metal scene.  With their uncanny aural resemblance to Led Zeppelin the band suffered a critical, but deserved, backlash. Lenny Wolf, the heart and soul behind Kingdom Come, remains the only original member, delivering the band's 13th album release, Magnified.  The Zeppelin influence is still there, but more as a musical influence rather than the blatant rip-offs heard in earlier releases. But listening to Magnified, I believe Wolf and company would have been better off had they stayed to their original format.

All tracks were written, produced, and engineered, solely by Wolf and the CD ventures into more risky territory. Overall, the 11-tracks are moody, dark, and almost gothic-like in their delivery. Unfortunately, nothing stands out. Living Dynamite, the opening track, is a slow, hypnotic song - not the best way to open an album. Magnified builds up but never really goes anywhere.  No Murderer I Kiss, a cry-out against war, lacks the lyrical bite that its message needs. It begins bluesy, 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 lot more bite, and will grow impatient rather quickly here. I can't help but think Magnified is a little too adventurous for its own good. An outside writer or two - not to mention someone other than Wolf producing - could have easily turned this album from a sleeper into something interesting. Wolf fails himself, but worse, also fails the listener.

Photo Credits: 'Magnified' Album Cover