KING FOR A DAY

It's hard to believe it's been 10 years since these proggers from Norway released their promising debut "Motions of Desire". At that time, their music struck me as an enthusiastic combination of classic prog and classic hard rock. (Think Deep Purple for the hard rock side of that equation.) At their best, they offered memorable passages and pieces that sounded like they very well could have been long lost recordings from many years ago. At their worst, they sometimes fell short of filling the big shoes of the legendary bands whose music they strove to emulate. That's actually not bad for a debut album from a new prog band. I found much to like and looked forward to hearing from them again in the future.

Checking back in on them a decade later, I must say that I am very impressed with how they have developed and matured. No longer do I get the feeling that certain sections of songs are direct homages to any particular band from any one particular decade of prog's illustrious history. Their influences, while still very present and valid, are now more varied, including a greater percentage of modern reference points. More importantly, their influences are just that--merely influences rather than templates or even primary reference points.

The sound quality on "King for a Day" is superb thanks in large part to the enlistment of sonic genius Rich Mouser (whose resume includes similar work for prominent contemporaries like Spock's Beard, Transatlantic and Dream Theater).

Keyboardist Erling Hananger is an excellent addition to Magic Pie's recipe. His keyboard parts are expressive, dynamic and integral to the music. When appropriate, his leads seamlessly blend, harmonize, and work synergistically with electric guitar.

The lyrics have a melodramatic and somewhat tragic flair this time around, but this is prog so you should be accustomed to the musical ride including a few tragic tales from time to time by now, right?

OK ' so it's time for the "magic" question... A decade after their debut album, how has my impression of Magic Pie changed?

On "King for a Day", I now hear a band which has found "its own voice", one that resonates confidently in the space somewhere between classic arena rock of yesteryear (on prog-steroids of course) and modern melodic prog of the 21st Century (like Spock's Beard and The Flower Kings). Add a few dashes of modern prog-metal to taste and you, my friend, have baked up a very nice confection indeed... MAGIC PIE!

If you love modern prog anthems with big harmonies and 'sing along' choruses, give "King for a Day" a listen! I'm glad I did!

(On a side-note, it appears I now have some important 'catching up' to do. I look forward to checking out Magic Pie's 2011's release "The Suffering Joy" in the very near future!)

Oh dear! I was really taken with the first two offerings from MP = "Motions of Desire" and "Circus of Life". Excellent music throughout and both very easy on the ear. Things started to go downhill with "The suffering joy" as the band veered away from the symphonic in favour of the histrionic, underpinned by self-consciously odd time structures for dramatic effect. "Suffering and joyless" would have been a more apt title! I had high expectations of "King for a day", hoping that the band would recover its original style, but no - I fear the downward journey is complete.

I have no idea what musical genre now most appropriately befits MP. Aside from "Silent Giant", which knows which side its bread is buttered on, this is just an unrelenting barrelful of mulligatawny soup, richly flavoured in that it contains a few snippets of genuinely excellent melodies, but with far too many dollops of sour cream scattered liberally about, in the very worst tradition of Spock's Beard. Seems to me that the band is now trying too hard to find its sense of direction.

"Trick of the Trade" is bog-standard dad rock, a genre which (I thought) came to an inglorious end some 30 years ago. (Its only redeeming feature was the briefest of snatches which brought to mind a long-forgotten track from the CD Garden Shed by England, which duly sent me scurrying back to listen again to that "lost" classic.)

"Introversion" delivers much of the same, this time interspersed with some slower passages which try (but fail) to lend an extra dimension of subtlety and feeling.

"According to Plan" is yet more run-of-the mill rock, albeit allied to some pretty nifty rhythmic gymnastics and multi-layered harmonies - an effortless graduate from the Spock's Beard school of bombast. Overblown and overly intricate at one and the same time.

"Tears gone dry" kicks off with about 6 minutes of absolutely gorgeous guitar and (later) vocals, but then, inevitably, degenerates once more into powerful dad rock schmaltz which had you running for cover.

"Silent giant" has already been mentioned in despatches.

Which brings us to" King for a day", MP's magnum opus. A veritable 27 minute romp through a range of musical styles with no discernible link between them. If the band had managed to cut out the excess frills and dross, this could have been a truly magnificent "epic". As it is, a terrifically sweeping and dynamic finale (covering the last 7 minutes) comes across as a precious orchid...but you have to hack through 25 miles of Japanese knot-weed before you unearth it. Which, for me, is about 24 and a half miles too far.

Norwegian band MAGIC PIE has been a presence in the Norwegian music scene for more than a decade to date, and from the release of their debut album "Motions of Desire" back in 2005 it has become a popular band also in the international circuit. "King for a Day" is their long-awaited fourth studio album, and was released in May 2015 through Karisma Records.

Magic Pie has an established reputation as providers of hard-edged symphonic progressive rock internationally, and with their fourth album "King for a Day" they will further enhance that reputation. A solid, high-quality production through and through, easily recommended to existing fans of the band, amd also to those with a general taste for harder edged progressive rock of the symphonic variety.

Magic Pie albums are like a prog orgy - liberally and populistically quoting all your favorite prog giants, plus the organ-drenched hard rock of Deep Purple and even some Dream Theater-esque shredding tendencies, and their own past work, in the process. That said, King for a Day has their probably punchiest production to date, bordering on prog metal-lite at times, and the most detailed vocal harmonies. In other respects this is your typical Magic Pie album, featuring a share of ear-friendly rockers, a pair of 12-minute, more balladic songs, and, of course, the obligatory 20 minute-plus epic that is a Magic Pie album all into itself.

2015 saw the Norwegians return with their fourth album, and right from the off they are punching hard with all their tricks and flicks on show. This time the longest song is at the end (a mere 27 minutes in length) and instead they start with one of the shortest. Their combination of complex guitar/bass/ keyboard runs are some of the best around, often moving them far more into rock and hard territory than many other symphonic bands around. Musically they are staying in the same territory they have made their own, namely Gentle Giant and City Boy trading yarns with Genesis, Spock's Beard and Enchant, to create something which is incredibly complex, yet with amazing hooks and harmony vocals.

All the material is accessible, with songs such as 'Introversion' having a massive chorus. This is an incredibly powerful driving rock number showing way more confidence than the title may lead one to imagine. The keyboards and guitar intertwine, sharing leads, and everyone apart from drummer Jan T. Johannessen joins in on vocals. The album was mixed and mastered by none other than Rich Mouser (Spock's Beard, Transatlantic, Neal Morse, Dream Theater) so of course the sound is spot on, and given his experience with bands who work in a similar musical area he knew exactly what he was looking for. To date the band have released five albums, all incredibly powerful and dynamic, and any one of them is the perfect introduction to a band any proghead should be familiar with.

"King for a Day" is all over the place--Magic Pie is classified here as symphonic prog, but given the variety of sounds on this album, there's a lot more going on. It's diverse enough that I'm going to have to break it down song by song.

"Trick of the Trade" is symphonic prog, reminiscent of Spock's Beard. It's a good song. Symphonic prog fans will probably enjoy this. Good but not great.

"Introversion" plays around with a lot of prog genres--the first few minutes is symphonic prog, then some brief flirting with something close to progressive metal, followed by some neo-prog. Magic Pie really does excel at the prog metal and neo-prog portions, but the first few minutes of this song ruin things.

"According to Plan" continues the symphonic prog, and is the worst song on the album.

"Tears Gone Dry" has prog metal vibes, although it doesn't get particularly heavy. Excellent song.

"The Silent Giant" is awesome. The shortest song on the album, and I can't help but be reminded at times of Ayreon-- light prog metal, expertly wrought.

The last song, the title track, is 27 minutes long and all over the place. It ends on a good note, but the rest of the song isn't that great.

Ultimately, "King for a Day" tries to please fans of all prog sub-genres, a rather impossible task. And that's unfortunate, because there are some real gems here--songs and parts of songs that really stand out. But there's too much skippable and too much just okay content here to be considered excellent. 3.5 stars.