"Trapped" kicks off side B of the lone full-length from Oklahoma's Oliver Magnum—their only release to feature vocalist James Randel, who later sang on the first Forté album. I would see Oliver Magnum mentioned in a lot of zines back in the day, but I don't think I ever took the time to check 'em out until the YouTube age, because the band name was always a put-off to me.
Oops.
The album is indeed an obscure gem of slightly thrashy, slightly progressive metal, and "Trapped" immediately jumped out on the first listen. Still my favorite of their tracks, it gets off to a slow start, but once the tempo picks up around 41 seconds in, I'm hooked. Those slick, melodic arpeggios during the chorus just kill me—I'm always a sucker for that type of riffing!
And speaking of obscurity, Oliver Magnum is in desperate need of a reissue. I don't think I've ever once seen a copy of the CD available for what I would consider to be a fair price. Some of the old New Renaissance releases have at least been made available digitally now, but unfortunately this is not among them. Bummer.
Comments
I think I’ve talked about this album with Matthew from Tribunal/Divebomb Records. Great stuff.
11.18.2014 | By Carlos Ramirez
Oh, you most certainly have, because I know I have, ha, ha!
11.18.2014 | By Andrew Aversionline
It is out of print by choice apparently.
11.20.2014 | By Matt
I’ll never understand…
11.20.2014 | By Andrew Aversionline
Saw these guys open for Laaz Rockit back in the day, both bands deserved waaaay more of a push than they got. Oliver Magnum was better live than on record.
3.14.2015 | By zackadams