Featured CD - Magic Pie : Motions of Desire

[Duncan Glenday]

A long-standing favorite of symphonic / neo fans. This album was excellent, and the 2 live performances I've seen were better.

Per SoT Dude:

Ah, leave it up to a bunch of Norwegians to come up with the surprise prog hit of 2005. Magic Pie, from Moss, Norway (near Oslo), are a six piece progressive rock band whose new album Motions of Desire is one hard-hitting platter of epic tunes loaded with melodic vocals, crisp & technical guitar work, and outstanding Hammond organ. Combining the accessibility of some of today's modern acts like The Flower Kings, Magellan, and Spock's Beard, with the technical expertise of Dream Theater, and throwing in some references to 70's icons like Deep Purple, Yes, Atomic Rooster, and Uriah Heep, Magic Pie have put together a real winner here.

The opening 20-minute epic "Change" covers every spectrum of progressive rock, from some catchy acoustic moments, to searing prog-metal, to flat out symphonic rock littered with Hammond and guitar interplay. It's really hard to say just who is the star of the show here, as the whole band just shines on every song. Guitarist Kim Stenberg is a monster player, both on electric & acoustic, and the man can shred when he wants to, or lay down a gorgeous melodic passage, plus he can churn out some mean rhythms and riffs as well. Keyboard ace Gilbert Marshall plays a mean Hammond organ as well as various synths, and the rhythm tandem of bassist Lars Petter Holstad and drummer Jan T. Johannessen lock into some incredibly tight and intricate grooves. Vocally, Magic Pie are quite strong as well, and in fact they have three singers, Eirik Hanssen, Allan Olsen, as well as Marshall. Style wise, and it's not noted in the booklet who sings what, one of them sounds like Trent Gardner from Magellan, and you also hear some Roine Stolt and Nick D'Virgilio influences at times as well. There's plenty of harmonies, which gives the vocals a real strong quality as to not get drowned out by the intense musical fireworks going on around them.

The title track has a strong Marillion/Spock's Beard/Pendragon feel to it, with some attractive synths and Hammond melodies from Marshall, and it's clearly one of the anthems on the album. Another of the CD's longer pieces, "Full Circle Poetry", is a song about one mans life journey, and has moments of symphonic prog, folky acoustic work, and hard rock. Stenberg gets in some nasty licks and trade-offs with Marshall's Hammond, and also injects some beautiful acoustic passages as well. On "Without Knowing Why" the band combines Dream Theater & Deep Purple for a heavy, complex sound, featuring crunchy guitar riffs and plenty of intricate keyboard/guitar unison melodies. The three part "Illusions & Reality" is another prog epic with lots of variety, both musically and vocally, and is one of the more endearing pieces on the album. It has a little something for everyone-sumptuous vocal harmonies, pastoral passages, and heavy complex sections. Marshall gets into some intense vocal & Hammond duels here with one of the other singers that sounds like vintage Jon Lord and Ian Gillan. The CD closes with the haunting "Dream Vision", another multi-layered piece that goes from atmospheric and moody one minute to bombastic and furious the next.

Magic Pie certainly flexed their creative muscles on Motions of Desire. Sure, it's a heavy slice of progressive rock, but there are plenty of gentle nuances to be found here as well. Not quite prog-metal, not quite neo-prog, but a happy medium certainly as well as those wonderful 70's influences. Highly recommended!

Reviewer: Pete Pardo
Score: 4.5 / 5

http://www.seaoftranquility.org/revi...ontent&id=2703

[bobert]

Love it , the first cd I ever heard from these guys and it turned me into an instant fan. A fantastic debut album by an equally fantastic band. I can't wait to hear what comes next from them.

[progeezer]

I can't be objective about a band who are all my (& Kay's) good friends, incl. all their wives/ladies. We're hoping for another trip to Moss this coming summer.

I was, however, a fan as soon as I heard the first 32 bars of "Change" on this album, long before I ever met the band.

Symph, yup, but I don't think of them as neo at all.

[Progatron]

Still my favourite from the band, although I like all three albums a lot. I was a fan right from the start, having heard the original demo for the epic track "Change" (I think on their Myspace page? Can't remember now), which I recall I preferred to the final album version. Anyway, terrific band with a great melodic sensibility. I hope to hear more from them!

[Duncan Glenday]

I remember the first time I saw them.

I'd seen a string of bands with singers who ranged from tolerable to fairly good.

Then these guys popped up with not one, but 5 singers who were all excellent.

'Course, I'm just talking about the vocals. The whole package was impressive.

[mellotron storm]

Way too much sugar for my tastes.

[jgprogbear]

When these guys appeared at ROSfest and opened with Changes, it was as if you were seeing a band fully formed at birth. Surely one of the highlights of my extensive live concert experiences, and the album proper has never failed to thrill me. EVER!!!

[hudman653]

They are far from my Favorite Prog band but i do love this CD. It doesn't seem " sugary " to me at all. They were quite good at Rosfest. The Guitarist can be a little too flashy for my tastes but that is nitpicking. Highly recommended .....

[ThomasKDye]

I think if I had a complaint about this album (which they rectified with later ones), it's that the acoustic guitar has this "tinny Ovation" sound that I really don't like too much. But when it rocks, it rocks, and it's gone some really sweet grooves and anthemic choruses going on.

[Plasmatopia]

Seeing so many excited about this I bought two of their albums, figuring they would be right up my alley. With repeated spins I still can't warm to them for some reason.

[mellotron storm]

They are far from my Favorite Prog band but i do love this CD. It doesn't seem " sugary " to me at all. They were quite good at Rosfest. The Guitarist can be a little too flashy for my tastes but that is nitpicking. Highly recommended .....

I'm glad you called me on that because I just realized I was mixing these guys up with Moon Safari, so apologies for that. I just remembered not liking it all that much and now that i'm remembering the right album it was the over abundance of keyboards that didn't fit my tastes. Talented band though.

[Garden Dreamer]

Good stuff, I really enjoy this album. The harmonies remind me of Lamm/Cetera/Kath from Chicago in the 70's.

[gryphs also]

I remember getting this at a Rosfest because of a friend's recommendation. I still remember being on the Ohio Turnpike and putting it in the CD player. Honestly, after the first 4 bars, I knew it was going to be special. It just got better and better. I just hope nobody is ever around me when Full Circle Poetry is played because you will hear the worst singing in the world from me but I can't control myself when that song comes on.

[Rogue Mail]

Excellent album.

Saw the band at The Folken in Stavanger in 06 supporting Magenta and then a few days later at Rosfest.

[emperorken]

Not their best, maybe their weakest, but still not bad.

[progeezer's ghost]

Absolutely love all three of this band's albums (though, admittedly it's been several years since I heard the The Suffering Joy). Circus of Life (from the album of the same name) as well as Change from this will likely forever remain two of my all-time favorite pieces of music, while the rest of both discs are more than a little impressive to these picky ears.

[Sunhillow]

I think "The Suffering Joy" is their best, but that's maybe to do with the fact that I've discovered this band through this album. All three albums are fine though. One of the best bands that followed the style of the Flower Kings.

[HoldYourFire]

I get the biggest kick out of the simplest thing on here, the title track. It's just a prog leaning pop tune and leaves me breathless. I got to play it at the ROSfest afterparty thingy last year with the FTB band and I was just in heaven.