MAGENTA BECOME CINEMA SHOW-OFFS
Welsh veterans return with “unashamedly prog” studio album Masters Of Illusion.
Magenta leader and keyboardist Robert Reed has offered assurances that their upcoming album Master of Illusion, released on July 1, represents a return to the sound of their first two works.
Their most recent LP, 2017’s We Are Legend, was more of an electro-oriented work when compared to 2001 debut Revolutions and 2004 follow-up Seven.
Reed reveals he was struggling before the creation of We Are Legend. “I was thinking I had done everything musically that I could with Magenta, and couldn’t get any enthusiasm to make the record,” he says. “I had to go to extremes and chuck electronics and loops on it – things I had avoided for years.
That unlocked it for me. But once I exorcised that demon I was desperate to make a real prog album again!”
Masters is set around the private lives of various Hammer horror actors, he explains, adding: “I wanted to go back to what Magenta was about with our first two albums. So this is unashamedly prog, with 12-string guitars, Mellotrons, choirs and Moog solos. But the melodies and the songs are king.”
The standard edition contains six tracks ranging from six to 17 minutes on CD, and a DVD with 5.1 surround mixes. A VIP limited edition features bonus disc The Lost Reel, presented in a mini film canister and containing orchestral and acoustic tracks from the main album and the band’s catalogue.
For more, visit www.magenta-web.co.uk.