Customer Reviews

Hundred Year Flood

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The fourth Magellan album. And, as we are used to from them, it compares to no other band. As far as I'm concerned Trent Gardner's band is both the very edge and the very heart of progressive rock. Once again, this album has it all, the vocal harmonies, soft guitars, grinding guitars, keyboards (a progressive rock rap?). But the sound has matured a lot. That is propably because the subject of the main song is more serious (or at least more personal) than on the previous albums. This first song, the Great Goodnight (over 30 minutes long!) is the story of Trents brother Jack, who died in Vietnam, when Trent was only four years old. Impressive, that is all I can say about it.
There are only two more songs on the album, so let's not forget those. Family Jewels is an instrumental track where Trent Gardner tries out his new synthesizers, and where he is helped by Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull) on his flute. A funny track. The third track, Brother's Keeper, has also all the qualities of a progressive rock epic. It is over 10 minutes long, and sounds a bit more like Magellans previous album (Test of Wills), a bit more metal-like, more aggressive sounding. It is about how people take care only of themselves, instead of being their "Brother's Keeper".
In conclusion: SUPER ALBUM! I can find no negative points whatsoever. OK, I'm a big Magellan fan, so maybe I'm a bit biased, but still. Get this album!

Having been a Magellan fan since their first CD "Hour of Restoration" and considering the fact that it had been 5 years since their excellent "Test of Wills", I really looked forward to the new release "Hundred Year Flood" (HYF)

Upon first listen I was a bit surprised: gone are the overly technical instrumental passages that seek to simply say "hey I can write and play this kind of complex music" (which I enjoy by the way). Instead, HYF focuses on telling the heart-wrenching true story about Trent Gardner's older brother Jack who died in Vietnam when Trent was only 4 years old. It's about Trent's learning about what happened (they didn't talk about it growing up) and how he remembers the important things about his brother (reading the lyrics while listening to the music literally made me well up with tears - it is so sad) and how he wished he could have known him. This is a monumental effort from Magellan - definitely their most mature. The music is simply beautiful and sweeps you thru various moods (mostly sad though given the topic). Very moving, and it gets better with each listen.

The 34 minute opus "The Great Goodnight" is the centerpiece. The other two tracks are throwaways in my opinion. One is a pointless keyboard tune, the last "Brother's Keeper" sounds like something that did not make it onto Test of Wills and isn't that great to begin with. Oh well, The Great Goodnight is full of excellent musicianship, songwriting, harmonies, and solid drumming courtesy of double-bass master Joe Franco.

I heartily recommend HYF to all Magellan fans and to all who appreciate prog. This, Spock's Beard's "Snow", and Planet X's "Moon Babies" are the best CDs of the year.

To put it simply, the first track ( of three ) is the best track. It clocks in at about 35 minutes at is brilliant all the way. Similar in concept to the way classical composers composed music, the track " The Great Goodnight" uses a lyrical and melodic theme in many different ways throughout the entire song.Most prog bands will just throw one complex riff after another and call it a song. (Dream Theater, Andromeda come instantly to mind). The lyric in " The Great Goodnight" is inspired by his late brother Jack who was killed in Vietnam. It's Trent recalling and dealing with the vague memories of his brother's death and the impact it had on his family that inspires the entire piece. It's very bold and even unprecendted for ANY band to do that. Trent composed numerous different and creative ways of repeating that same motif throughout the tune.It's truly inspiring and touching too. There's great vocals everywhere and new drummer Joe Franco gets great drum sounds ala Marillion's classic, "Clutching At Straws".
The next track is called, " Family Jewels". This is a track of Ian Anderon ( Jethro Tull ) playing flute over a organ pedal tone. Then Trent comes in with some cool keyboard parts. Nothing dramatic here, just fun to listen to.
The last track, despite it's title, has no connection to The Great Goodnight. The track is " Brother's Keeper " and is more commentary than anything. Grammy nominated bassist and stick player Tony Levin lays down some deep, funky bass on the track. It clocks in about 10 minutes and it's groovin' the whole time! Wait over a minute or so at the end of the tune and you'll hear Trent give a brief dedication to his lost brother Jack. You'll have to sit through silence to get there...
Forget any idiotic nay sayers ( that dork from Minneapolis being a great example ) and buy this album. I don't regret for a minute buying my copy. Listen to the great compositions going on all you'll see what I mean. This disc is truly AWESOME!

Look I`m a big Magellan head I have been for 5 years now, I own everything Trent Gardner has ever released, and I was recently blown away with Explorers clubs 2, so when waiting for this to turn up I expected a blow away Magellan CD, and for the first half it was just that .
Firstly It is very good but I feel it is a bit to jumbled and has to many ideas whirling around, its also a bit short on melody, sure it has many hooks, but in whole its perhaps a bit over indulged. Sadly my bigest gripe is its a bit to personal, I mean I feal sorry for the Gardner family for there loss, but these things happen , thats life . In all I was impresed with this cd, it started well and kind of finished just ok .The Ian Anderson flute solo was good but i`ve heard him do better with Jethro Tull. I would recommend this CD to full on Magellan heads but for those starting out and want to discover the brilliant man Trent Gardner is, buy Leonardo (the absolute man)or Steve Walsh (glossolalia) Trent is the brains behind both these cd`s and they are great for first time Gardners. Test of Wills had some great songs like (walk fast , look worried) this new Magellan CD is lacking the warmth and metal balance of (Test of wills) but still provides us with a very good release, I missed Brad Kaiser though he was a great drummer. The Great Goodnight which runs for 34:27 minutes is musicaly fantastic and the the rest is ok .I think because of the very progressive nature of this CD avoid forming an opinion on it for the first 5 listens , let it work on you. Unfortunatly this and all magellan CD`s are plagued by a kind of negativity, I feel they need to lighten up.

Most of this incredible disc is comprised of just one song, "The Great Goodnight". It clocks in at about 35 minutes and is THE most emotional piece Magellan has ever written.
The song is about a the Gardner Bros losing their oldest brother in the jungles of Vietnam. Normally Trent's lyrics are broader in scope and let the listener decide the meanings. In this case, "The Great Goodnight" is much more direct and to the point. And like I said very emotional.

Each and every Magellan album is unique and sounds nothing like the one before it. This is a band that's not afraid to take chances and at least to my ears, avoids prog cliches like the plague. Personally I feel that's why some fans are so incredibly negative and insulting in their reviews. They obviously expected more of the same but what they got instead was completely unique!

For you fans out there that think Magellan suck, just ask yourself why the following musicians have guested on Magellan albums or Trent Gardner's side projects like Explorer's Club, etc.:
Ian Anderson, Terry Bozzio, John Petrucci, Mike Portnoy, Steve Walsh, Steve Howe, James Labrie, Kerry Livgren, Billy Sheen, Virgil Donati, John Wetton, Marin Barre, James Murphy, D.C. Cooper, and a host of other world class musicians. All of these guys and more would agree to play with Trent if he sucked??? Somehow I doubt that very much!

The bottom line here is that everyone is entitled to their own tastes and opinions and Magellan's music is no different. However if you don't like the music it's no reason to be personally insulting to the man that wrote it. A few reviews (outside of the most positive reviews) get down right hostile!

Anyways, get this album and give it a few listens. With Magellan you'll notice something different each time and eventually you'll see just how original these guys are. Oh, and don't forget to check out Ian Anderson's flute solo on the song, "Family Jewels"!

This album is actually just one (35 minute) number, and some "filling". But oh, the 35 minute monster-piece: The Great Goodnight. It is a classical Magellan-composition, meaning that it propably sounds like nothing you've ever heard before. It has everything: the vocal harmonies, shredding guitars, impressive keyboards, etc. I don't think a Vietnam-story has ever been done this way. Together with pictures and news-clippings from the Gardner family foto-album, it is really impressive. The song is the story of frontman Trent Gardner's brother, Jack, who died in Vietnam, when Trent was "only four".
But let's not forget the "filling": The magic flute of Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull) makes an appearance on the second song: Family Jewels. And the third and final song, Brother's Keeper, with a length of 10 minutes is itself an epic, only a little bit drowned out by The Great Goodnight. This song sounds a little more like Magellans third album "Test of Wills". A bit more metal, a bit more aggressive. The song is about taking responsibility for your own actions, or the lack thereof...
As you can see, there is something for every prog-lover. This album deserves to be bought as soon as possible!

Ok let me explain my rating system - 1 is poor, 2 Average, 3 Good, 4 Excellent, 5 Exceptional. By giving this album 2 stars I consider it an average album much as I'd like to give it more.

The concept behind the 13 part title suite is that it is an ode to Trent and Wayne Gardners older brother Jack who was killed in Vietnam at the age of 19. The final two tracks are an instrumental which is pretty nondescript to be honest and seems an excuse to get Ian Anderson involved in the project, which is fair enough as he is a hero of Trent Gardners and another long track called Brother's Keeper which really comes across as nothing more than a filler

My issue with this album is that while Trent Gardner is a talented musician (his vocals can be hit and miss though), he seems intent on stuffing every single musical idea in his head into his songs with little vetting. Therefore, as with the 13 piece title track we see instances where there is little or no continuity or blending of the seperate pieces into a cohesive body. Some of the time changes and chord progressions can be very jarring particularly as they usually follow a riff or melody that is haunting or beautiful. It's almost as if Trent wrote these pieces with little intention of fusing them together into one suite (and I imagine continuity is what he IS going for here). If you compare this to Dream Theater's 'A Change of Seasons' you can see the difference. 'Change' may only have 5 seperate 'parts' to the suite but they blend beautifully. Perhaps Trent should have cut down the number of seperate parts and concentrated on 6 instead of 13?

That said there are moments here where you will be blown away by the melody and vocal harmonies. Parts 1,2 & 8 would be three such examples. There is also no doubt that Magellan are outstanding Musicians. Both Trent and Wayne are exceptionally gifted and Wayne really shows his abilities here with some emotion drenched soloing.

To sum up this was a disappointment for me. I am a Magellan fan (Impending Ascension is a great album - arguably their best) and was expecting more from this after the fairly good Test of Wills. A little more analysis from Trent Gardner is necessary though if Magellan are to rise from being a relative curio in the Prog Metal world to become something more meaningful.

Being a Jethro Tull fan I was first attracted to this CD because
of Ian Anderson's flute work on Family Jewels. Since I am a little older PROG fan "The Great Goodnight" really touched me
and was sometime that seemed to come from the heart of the writer
as it is about losing a brother in the Vietnam War. Ian's flute right after that song was a nice smooth way to move back into harder rock again. This CD has all the things you want
in a PROG and is a much better concept than some guy named Snow.

Having really enjoyed the last three Magellan albums, this one came as a disappointment. While "The Great Goodnight" is enormously touching in its theme, the musical pieces, while very nice, don't flow into each other or hang together at all. Trent insists on "speaking" several lines and it only adds to the cacophony. "Family Jewels" and "Brother's Keeper" aren't very good either; the former being a bunch of flute and keyboard noodling and the latter desperately needing a hook someone could care about. I give it three stars for the nice musical moments gracing "The Great Goodnight" (and Wayne Gardner's guitarwork is better than ever), but please, Trent, think about putting together SONGS before you commit anything to disc!

Fantastic "tribute" album from Trent Gardner. Ian Anderson can really play! Always expect the best prog from Magna Carta!!!