Big Bang

Description

Big Bang is the debut album by the American hard rock band Magdallan (later known as Magdalen), released on Intense Records in 1992, an imprint of the Frontline Music Group, releasing FMG’s industrial/metal output. The album was produced by band members Ken Tamplin and Lanny Cordola. Big Bang was notable as one of the most expensive Christian albums produced by that time, with a budget reported as being $250,000, and the album faced some criticism for being overproduced. Nevertheless, Big Bang was nominated for one GMA Dove Award for Best Metal/Hard Rock Album in 1992, though did not win.

An advertisement by Frontline Music Group featured in the May 1990 issue of CCM Magazine, stated that “Shout is now Magdallan. Watch for their new release coming this summer on Frontline.” Magdallan was started in 1990 as a studio project and collaboration between Ken Tamplin (formerly of Shout) and Lanny Cordola, who were joined by Brian Bromberg and Ken Mary. After the first album Ken Tamplin departed and Phillip Bardowell took over vocal duties. After Tamplin’s departure, the studio project of Magdallan was turned into a full band and thus the name was changed from Magdallan to Magdalen. Chuck Wright would later replace Bromberg for the Magdalen releases Revolution Mind and The Dirt EP. The band was active from 1990 to 1995. In 1999 a compilation album, End of the Ages, was released under the old name spelling.

If you have even a passing interest in Christian hard rock and metal, you’ve no doubt heard about Ken Tamplin and Lanny Cordola‘s band, Magdallan. ‘Big Bang’ nearly disappeared into the vaults forever, under the weight of studio costs said to approach the quarter-million dollar mark (at least five times the budget of most Christian records); more recently, the album got renamed, and has been on and off the release schedule more than a Bruce Springsteen record! Magdallan also might be the first band to spawn three solo albums before the group’s first ever came out. Regardless, ‘Big Bang’ is one of a few rock releases this year that will give Petra’s ‘Unseen Power‘ and Holy Soldier’s ‘Last Train‘ competition on the charts. Here’s why.

First, if you’re familiar with Cordola’s guitar playing, you don’t need to be persuaded of his enormous talents. His previous work with Tamplin, on the Shout projects and Ken’s first solo album, speaks – quite loudly and eloquently – for itself. The real surprise on ‘Big Bang’ is the marked improvement on Tamplin’s lead vocals. He’s raised his abilities a notch, as all pros do when the game is on the line. That, in tandem with Cordola’s playing and the pair’s songwriting prowess, elevates ‘Big Bang’ from what could have been a big buck exercise in studio futility to the duo’s best work to date.

If anything, ‘Big Bang’ may suffer from a surfeit of ideas. With 13 song’s clocking in at nearly 60 minutes, there’s bound to be a little excess baggage, but honestly, there’s not much. The band, which is mostly Cordola, drummer Ken Mary and jazz bass virtuoso Brian Bromberg, comes barreling out of the gate at double-speed on the opening (and original title) track, «End of the Age». Bromberg does some thumb-slapping that will warp your spine, and when Cordola rises to that challenge, the results are awesome. The band also varies its tempos and arrangements to good effect. The soulful «Shake», for instance, works a mid-tempo groove, propelled by a slick horn chart, while the power ballads «Wounded Hearts» and «House of Dreams» both offer excellent vocals by Ken and the bluesy «Old Hard Line» features a string section of double bass, fiddle, madolin and banjo – sort of hard rcok bluegrass, as well as another of Tamplin’s best vocals. Other highlights include the crisp, aggressive attack of «Love to the Rescue»; the warp-speed «Dome of the Rock», with a gang of Tamplins on background vocals; the title track which pokes holes in the various cosmic string cheese theories of how mankind originated; and a jazzy «This 1’s 4 U», featuring Tamplin’s take on Take 6.

Two caveats – those who keep score of such things may be disappointed in the number of tunes which are geared to a Christian audience versus the brace of songs which were obviously written with the general marketplace in mind; bear in mind though, that this album was originally stated only for mainstream release. Also, the duo’s quest for studio perfection may become a little tiresome, about half-way through. But that can be seen as both the album’s biggest strength and only a slight weakness. All the dollars spent on ‘Big Bang’ are certainly “in the mix.” [Bruce A. Brown, CCM, March 1992]

> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/big-bang/388612125)

CD tracklist:

01. End Of The Ages – 6:12
02. Radio Bikini – 4:41
03. Shake – 3:50
04. Wounded Hearts – 5:34
05. Love To The Rescue – 5:07
06. Old Hard Line – 4:31
07. Dome Of The Rock – 4:47
08. Big Bang – 4:51
09. House Of Dreams – 4:17
10. Cry Just A Little – 4:57
11. Heartbreak Woman – 4:08
12. This Is It – 2:46
13. End Of The Ages (Reprise) – 0:34

Note: Simultaneously released on cassette and CD by Intense Records.

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