Review: –

No, it’s not the long-awaited second album by the band that recorded the Wicker Man soundtrack, but it is attuned to a similarly non-mainstream spirituality as that found on Summer Isle. Executing the occult ’70s rock sound with the consummate skill that one usually expects from the likes of Witchcraft and Graveyard, Magnet’s being Italian presents a challenge to the Swedish monopoly on ’70s rock and the lazy prejudices of music writers. Boogie Woogieing with a catchy Richie Blackmore/Tony Iommi style of heavy, Magnet eventually reveal their peculiar Italian-ness with the Goblin-sounding synths that send the intro to ‘Little Moon’ blasting off into the cosmos.

It could be substituting one prejudice for another but once the Italian feel is established, ‘Feel Your Fire’ takes on a whole different energy, with the spirit of Paul Chain and Black Hole supplanting the usual suspects of ’70s rock, even on knowing Sabbath homage ‘Magnet Caravan’. Appreciation of a record shouldn’t depend on its country of origin but Magnet’s take on ’70s rock shows that when a band is unafraid to reference its own cultural heritage it can revitalise a style that can often seem creatively moribund.