The previous Magenta band album, called The White Witch - A Symphonic Trilogy (2022), we did not review. However the one before that Masters Of Illusion (2020, see review) we did and was very much to my liking, as it highlighted the immaculate voice of Christina Booth and the soaring melodic guitar solos/melodies by Chris Fry. The new album Tarot, Magenta's first in four years' time, is a wonderful album and it certainly will end up remarkably high in my top ten list of 2026 for sure! Tarot is a concept album featuring five different people in the five longer tracks and all these characters are associated with a different Tarot card. The music has a true orchestral approach, and the five epic songs breathe classic era Renaissance (prog band from the seventies) characteristics, while the four short etudes - rather superfluous to me - are also based on themes from the album. This magnificent album starts with The Lovers, a beautiful romantic musical adventure, reminding me of a band called Cyan; featuring heartfelt vocals, strings, horns and an almost bluesy, yet melodic guitar solo by Fry; what a way to start an album indeed! The Magician highlights a lush guitar solo, clarinet and piano passages and of course again beautiful vocals by Booth. The World is the next epic song and here the voice of Booth is ecstatic, making this song one of the best of Tarot indeed. The next epic track called Strength is probably the most straightforward song of the album and this one features a dreamy guitar part, soft piano passages, and breath-taking melodies. However, the true highlight of this amazing album is The Empress, an energetic track with memorable melodies, goosebumps guitar work and lots of emotion and heartfelt singing by Booth, as this lady really steals the show on Tarot indeed!! Finally, we reach the title track, which is a lighter and shorter song, which makes it truly more accessible, and it ends this impressive album perfectly indeed. Tarot is a must have album for Magenta fans and for all lovers of melodic prog rock, can it get any better than this? Tarot is truly Magenta's masterpiece, a milestone in music indeed, one of the true highlights of the year 2026; so, do not miss it!!! Listening tip: The Magician! ****+ Martien Koolen (edited by Tracy van Os van den Abeelen) Where to buy? |
