LEGENDS

Magrathea from UK is probably one of the most unknown prog bands from this country. Formed in mid '90s by the two remaining musicians Glen Alexander and Gary Gordon. The third album released in 2004 named Legends is a pretty good sympnonic/neo prog album to my ears, They evolved from a heavier side of prog on first two records on this one they sound very much like Genesis - Trick of the tail era. I don't think I've ever head the chance to hear a band to sound so similar to Genesis, from voice to almost all arrangements are sounding more Genesis then Gensis itself. Anyway the passages are well constructed with plenty of good moments, the guitar and the keyboards are really good. From Banks like smooth keyboards parts to Hackettian guitars, Magrather manage to create a pleasent album even is far from original, but is decent and very enjoyble from start to finish. The voice is a Gabriel/Collins clone but has the merits here not to be boring, is ok most of the time, typical english in aproach of course. If the production is not fantastic or crystal clear like on other bands, but is better this way to have a good album with poor mixing then a crystal clear sound with bad pieces.Tunes like reunion, The Man Who Loved Flowers or Agoraphobic are really good and shows that this band has potential and the musicians involved here play for pleasure with honesty not for money or other things. All in all a fairly good album that must be discovered by many prog lovers as possible. 3-3.5 stars