Issue 2026-016

Scott Rich

While I am no expert on Magenta, I like what I know. Depending on how one looks at it, this is the tenth or eleventh studio album, as there are two versions of the album Home available. This is the first Magenta album since 2022's The White Witch — A Symphonic Trilogy.

The theme for this album, obviously, is tarot cards. Five cards are represented here. The first card the reader turns over is The Lovers. This tarot card represents not only romance, but also successful relationships of other kinds as well, such as business relationships. The track begins with orchestral music, including tubular bells. The band kicks in with a primarily 6/8 rhythm, with a few odd measures thrown in to keep us guessing.

Christina Booth's beautiful and distinctive vocals enter soon after the beat is established. The tempo is quick with high energy. D'Virgilio is, as I am sure most of us know, a veteran of prog giants Spock's Beard and a current member of Big Big Train, and is one of the most adept drummers at navigating changing meters in the modern prog world. Reed impresses both on the bass and keys here. Symphonic interludes punctuate the different vocal segments of the song. Chris Fry takes a terrific melodic guitar solo just past the midpoint of the song.

Christina hits a beautiful high note around the 8 minute mark as the song moves towards the end. It seems like a big finish is coming, but ends on a quiet note.

The first of four brief etudes follows, with all of them ranging between 20 and 25 seconds in length. This one is a classical guitar piece.

Up next, The Magician card is revealed. The Magician tarot card represents talent and power that comes from within. It begins with a grand introduction, followed by Reed's piano and Christina's vocals. I absolutely love Reed's bass lines; he walks all over the place and locks in tightly with D'Virgilio's drumming. There is a great instrumental break in the middle. We have wonderful guitar work from Fry and nice classical bits here and there. He plays a bit of classical guitar before the piano takes over near the ending. This one does have a big finish.

Etude 2 follows, this time in a renaissance music fashion, with recorders joining the guitar.

The World is the third card turned over. The card indicates that one has completed a particular cycle in their life and is prepared to embark on the next one. An organ riff, joined by bass then the band in odd-meters.

Piano and bass lead Christina Booth's vocals in. I like the call and response vocals in the second verse. This one has a bit of an upbeat breezy feel. There is a more mysterious sounding instrumental segment after 3 minutes. There are terrific harmonies just before the mid-point. A brief guitar feature follows. The message of the song seems to be to make the most of life, and not throw opportunities away. Around 6 minutes, the synth and guitar trade licks; very nice! Fry's guitar playing sometimes reminds me of Steve Howe. Booth is a masterful singer, exhibiting skills and control throughout. The song ends with a gradually slowing piano part. Excellent track!

Etude 3, of course, follows with a bit of classical guitar and recorder again.

Turning over the fourth card, we have the Strength card. This card lets you know that, whatever challenge you may be facing and no matter how difficult the challenge is, you have the inner strength to face it. The tone of this song follows suit from Etude 3. Upbeat and alternating between segments of 4/4 and 6/8, the instrumentalists set a beautiful backdrop for Booth's backing vocals.

At around 2 minutes, the song turns to the protagonist's inner thoughts as it slows in tempo and becomes more dreamy in nature. Fry takes a solo around 3:20, with some echoes answering his main phrases. Around 4:50 Reed's bass fill signals a return to the original tempo. It is only a brief return as not long after, things slow back down. A nice crescendo that reminds me of Mockingbird by Barclay James Harvest follows. After 8 minutes, things slowly begin to build in intensity, before calming back down. Then it builds again. It resolves quietly with renaissance-style music. I could just as well have capitalised that as they also remind me of the band Renaissance at times. Another wonderful track!

Etude 4, the final one, follows. This one has both keyboards and guitar.

The final card of our reading is The Empress. This card represents feminine energy and signals that a period of great creativity is beginning. This begins with high-energy accents and melodies. We are in 6/8 here. I love the sense of orchestration on this track and throughout the album. There are occasional bits where it sounds like a bit of a whirlwind around the protagonist.

At around 3:30 there is a nice piano interlude, joined with guitar. Reed has a recurring organ motif that appears throughout the song that reminds me of Yes' Awaken. There is a real sense of forward motion in the way the different themes in the song are woven together. I love the harmony vocals as the song approaches 7:30. A nice synth solo follows. A clean guitar solo follows the next vocal section. D'Virgilio was the right man for the drumming gig here, to be sure, as the song has a sense of running up to the conclusion. Nicely done!

The album closes with the relatively short Tarot (4:40). A melancholy piano blended with other sounds paves the way for Booth's voice to enter. She sings “The path of life has twists and turns...”, as does this album. This is a peaceful, meditative ballad to close the album. There are more call and response vocals here, but Christina takes the spotlight here, until there is a nice crescendo bringing in the fill and then Fry's guitar takes the stage. Christina gets the final word here, asking us to “Move on, move on, move on...” A beautiful way to close out an equally beautiful album.

Fans of prog's softer and more symphonic side, such as BJH, Renaissance, The Enid, and The Moody Blues, will be sure to love this album. The production and performances are flawless. The arrangements are rich and warm. Yet, there is still a real sense of positive energy and possibility throughout. I highly recommend checking this album out, and I am glad I chose to give it a deep dive for my first review at DPRP.

Greg Cummins

I've just emerged from a three-day, self-imposed exile with Magenta's new 2026 masterpiece, Tarot and frankly, my neighbours probably think I've joined a medieval cult. If Rob Reed keeps writing music like this, I'm going to need a bigger wine cellar, specifically for more Shiraz. This album is an absolute tour de force that demands a celebratory glass (or three) even for those teeltoallers who wouldn't know a mellotron from a synclavier.

If you've spent the last six years wondering if Magenta would ever return to their atmospheric symphonic roots, your wait has ended with a deck-shuffling flourish. Their 2026 release, Tarot, isn't just a collection of songs; it's a sprawling, sixty-minute validation for anyone who thinks a synthesizer should sound like a cathedral and a bass guitar should growl like an ogre..

Rob Reed has always been a bit of a polymath, but on Tarot, he's moved past mere influence and into a state of total structural concinnity. While his recent solo outings are heavily influenced by the Oldfieldian mystique and formula, here he recaptures the "blueprint" of early 2000s Magenta while injecting sophisticated maturity into the whole project. He isn't just writing melodies, he's conducting an emotional heist. His decision to handle the bass duties himself is a masterstroke — it's "loud and proud," providing a muscular counterpoint to the ethereal textures above. Compared to the more experimental The White Witch, this feels like the spiritual successor to Revolutions, but with much better hardware.

The album is structured with five "meat-and-potatoes" epics separated by short musical interludes called Etudes. It's a pacing choice that prevents "prog-exhaustion" and keeps the listener tethered to the ground.

At nine minutes, The Lovers is the opening statement of intent. Christina Booth's vocals are draped in crystalline reverb, navigating the shifting time signatures with a grace that makes the complex feel effortless. The Magician is where Chris Fry really starts to flex. His lead guitar work is mercurial, moving from delicate nylon-string flourishes to stinging, high-gain solos that pierce through Reed's thick Hammond and Moog beds.

Appropriately named, Strength is a powerhouse track where Nick D'Virgilio's drumming provides a thunderous, driving force. The way the oboe (Sam Baxter) and flute (Katie Axelsen) weave through the heavier sections is a testament to Reed's skill as an orchestrator. It's dense but never cluttered.

The Empress is a ten-minute odyssey that becomes the album's emotional anchor. It's joyous, medieval and features a piano performance that is genuinely emotive. The vocal layering here, featuring Steve Balsamo and Peter Jones, creates a choral swell that would make 1970s-era Renaissance weep with pride.

If your record collection is cognizant of the important gems from yesteryear, Tarot is the missing piece of the puzzle. It will appeal to anyone who regularly listens to:

Renaissance — For the folk-infused elegance and Booth's crystalline vocals.
Yes — Specifically the Going for the One era, where the arrangements were bold and the bass was a lead instrument.
Spock's Beard — For the sheer technical audacity and those thunderous drum fills.
Mostly Autumn — Especially given the guest spots from the likes of Troy Donockley on other Reed projects—that Celtic, soaring atmosphere is very much present here.
Big Big Train — If you enjoy "pastoral prog" that doesn't mind getting its hands dirty with a bit of grit and attitude.

This album is a siren call for the "Mellotron-and-Mustard" crowd. If you find yourself frequently using words like contrapuntal or rubato in casual conversation, or if you've ever defended a twenty-minute flute solo at a dinner party, Tarot is your new gospel.

It stands as perhaps the most coherent and consistent work of Reed's career—a polished, professional, and occasionally humorous romp through the arcana. It's the sound of a band celebrating 25 years by proving they can still out-play, out-write, and out-prognosticate everyone else in the field.

Today's task. Go shopping, bugger the groceries and the cost of fuel, buy your copy of choice today, and let the magic unfold.