KING FOR A DAY

"King for a Day" is all over the place--Magic Pie is classified here as symphonic prog, but given the variety of sounds on this album, there's a lot more going on. It's diverse enough that I'm going to have to break it down song by song.

"Trick of the Trade" is symphonic prog, reminiscent of Spock's Beard. It's a good song. Symphonic prog fans will probably enjoy this. Good but not great.

"Introversion" plays around with a lot of prog genres--the first few minutes is symphonic prog, then some brief flirting with something close to progressive metal, followed by some neo-prog. Magic Pie really does excel at the prog metal and neo-prog portions, but the first few minutes of this song ruin things.

"According to Plan" continues the symphonic prog, and is the worst song on the album.

"Tears Gone Dry" has prog metal vibes, although it doesn't get particularly heavy. Excellent song.

"The Silent Giant" is awesome. The shortest song on the album, and I can't help but be reminded at times of Ayreon-- light prog metal, expertly wrought.

The last song, the title track, is 27 minutes long and all over the place. It ends on a good note, but the rest of the song isn't that great.

Ultimately, "King for a Day" tries to please fans of all prog sub-genres, a rather impossible task. And that's unfortunate, because there are some real gems here--songs and parts of songs that really stand out. But there's too much skippable and too much just okay content here to be considered excellent. 3.5 stars.