The album opens with Bela, obviously based on Bela Lugosi, the Hollywood superstar ‘Dracula’ of the 1930s. We therefore had to choose six ‘Stars’ to be the subjects of the songs.” Steven shared, “Me and Rob both love the Hammer Films of the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s and the classic Universal Horror Films of the ’30s and ’40s. Initially, the concept behind this album echoed the deceased rock star themed The Twenty Seven Club, but on this album they would focus upon Horror Movie stars. Alongside Reed’s undoubted compositional skills, Magenta rely upon the lyrical ideas and input of his brother, Steven Reed. These are words that will bring joy to many melodic progressive rock fans, and those elements are certainly in abundance on this album. In contrast, for this album he wanted to return to the roots of the band and “what I love about Progressive Rock: longer songs, great melodies, 12-string guitars, Mellotrons. In a recent interview with Prog magazine, Rob Reed revealed that he struggled whilst writing their last album, We are Legend, deciding to give it a harder edge with more electronics and loops. However, typically, Magenta do things with a certain twist and these musical vignettes tell us things about these stars which may surprise and move us. Masters of Illusion is based upon the stories of six classic Horror movie stars and Magenta’s stirring widescreen music is an apt setting for these cinematic tales. They create beguiling musical and lyrical canvasses. Modern Welsh progressive rock band Magenta are a band who follow their own very distinctive melodic path, describing narratives through dramatic and emotional music.
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