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Magic Pie — Maestro
(Karisma KAR297, 2025, CD / LP / DL)

by Jon Davis, Published 2025-11-03

Maestro Cover art

Magic Pie is now up to their sixth album, and once again, it’s a tasty set of music that’s infused with a lot of the sounds of classic 70s rock that doesn’t sound nostalgic. Of course, nostalgia is in the eye of the beholder, but there are enough modern touches in Maestro to lift it out of retro fetishism. As on Fragments of the 5th Element, some handy references would be Jethro Tull (though without flute), Sweet, and Ambrosia at their most progressive-sounding. There are often lovely vocal harmonies, so you could also add Queen in their early proggy days (with a different lead singer, obviously) or Uriah Heep. As is usual for Magic Pie, the album features an extended-length piece, in this case “Opus Imperfectus Pt. 1 The Missing Chord,” which comes in at eighteen and a half minutes; part two, titled “Maestro” is a mere 4:16. Aside from those two tracks, there are five more tracks, resulting in a bit less than 50 minutes of music, and it is available in single LP form in addition to CD and download. Lead vocals are handled by Eiríkur Hauksson, and he’s backed by guitarist Kim Stenberg, bassist Lars Petter Holstad, drummer Martin Utby, and keyboardist Erling Henanger, with everyone except Utby contributing backing vocals. Stenberg writes the music and Hauksson the lyrics. The band is solid all around, and Stenberg’s guitar usually provides the flashy bits, leaning a bit into metal in his leads even while the music is otherwise not at all metal. Henanger’s keys favor classic sounds like organs and Moog-like synths, though in today’s world it’s hard to tell what he’s using to produce the sounds. But it’s really the quality of the singing all around that defines the band. Magic Pie deserves to be a staple in the collections of all fans of progressive rock.

Filed under: New releases, 2025 releases

Related artist(s): Magic Pie

More info
http://magicpie.bandcamp.com/album/maestro

 

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