Bob Catley has a unique and instantly recognizable voice that immediately grabs your attention. If voices could be part of a police identification parade anyone, who has heard anything by Magnum over the years, would be able to pick him out without any trouble at all.
He has had, and on this evidence is still having, a career with some lasting highs, such as Magnum’s superb On a Storytellers Night or Marauder as just two, of many, examples. His solo career also produced the highly impressive 2006 album Spirit of Man, one of his best to date. So when Bob Catley announces that he is about to release a new album, there is a lot of eager anticipation. Like welcoming an old friend, Immortal sounds familiar from the off. His voice has lost none of its impact over the years and again he has chosen songwriters who write material that literally fits him like a glove.
His work can never be categorised as just melodic or just rock – Magnum and Bob Catley step beyond those definitions producing, on the one hand, grand soaring symphonic rock combined with a delightfully controlled power. Magnum’s Tony Clarkin wrote some memorable songs into which Bob Catley injected his own undeniable style. During his solo career he has chosen song writers incredibly well.
For Immortal the writing is supplied by Swedish guitar hero Magnus Karlsson of Starbreaker fame. Starbreaker of course have just released a melodic rock triumph themselves with their album Love’s Dying Wish. In writing material for someone like Bob Catley it is a safe bet that he will draw every possible emotion and passion from the lyrics and with the songs on Immortal, the combination of song, lyric, and vocal delivery work as well as anything he has done previously. From the opening chords of “Dreamers Unite” this can only be a Bob Catley album.
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