Long standing British progressive rock band Pendragon give a 2024 slight refresh to and reissue of The Masquerade Overture – their biggest selling album originally issued back in 1996.
My history with Pendragon isn’t exactly in depth – I own just Pure and Passion, both of which I think are excellent with their harder edge to them.
A friend is a huge Pendragon fan and on seeing Masquerade Overture is being reissued, suggested I bag a copy because it’s a cracker.
So I did…….and it is……!
I didn’t think so at first as it took half a dozen or so spins to get in to, then after the seventh or so spin I “got it” and now think it is indeed that “cracker” my Pendragon-loving friend said it is.
Glorious typically English lush, pastoral progressive rock which is a proper immersive listen with expertly written and performed songs full of all sorts of keyboard work, atmospheric and biting guitars in synch with the keys, melodic bass and crisp drums.
Clive Nolan’s keyboard variations are as good as you’ll hear from anyone – yes, even “uncle” Rick Wakeman. Nick Barratt is a superb guitarist and lyricist, Pete Gee’s bass nicely understated and Fudge Smith’s drumming is nicely crisp.
The weak point (if there is one) is that Nick Barratt’s vocals are a bit on the thin side. That comes across on the short track The Pursuit of Excellent where his vocal sounds strained as he reaches for the higher register.
His vocals are not bad – just that bit thin. Does not detract from the class of the overall album however which, once the penny drops, is tremendous in terms of scope, composition and performance.
It’s real grower. An excellent example of lush progressive rock which whilst having tracks which are generally on the longish side all hold the attention and do not fall in to the prog rock rabbit hole which can sometimes happen when bands disappear down in to it with too many self-indulgent twiddly bits and bizarre time signatures for the sake of it. None of that going on here.
The symphonic/orchestral title track starts things off nicely. As Good As Gold and Paintbox both classy with Nolan’s lush keyboards and Barratt’s guitar meandering this way and that against the storybook lyrics making for a sublime couple of songs. Check out As Good As Gold for example:
Guardian of My Soul, The Shadow also both first class prog/rock with more of those engaging keys and guitar washes. Then we have Masters of Illusion which bounces along leaning towards a bit of prog metal almost. A dozen minutes of sublime music.
The two bonus tracks on this 2024 reissue are Schizo and King of the Castle. Schizo comes over as a slower track though King of the Castle is a fine song indeed.
It’s not hard to see why The Masquerade Overture is Pendragon’s biggest seller. It is engaging from start to finish with the way Barratt and Nolan compliment each other rather special. Call it prog, call it neo-prog, call it what you like – certainly classy with more than enough to satisfy the prog fan or of you like things a bit heavier. This 2024 reissue does it justice. My mate got it right – The Masquerade Overture is a cracker…..!
>> PENDRAGON THE MASQUERADE OVERTURE ON AMAZON <<
The 2024 re-issue of the mighty Pagan Altar’s debut album and the new one from Demon should be here in a few days. Some classic New Wave of British Heavy Metal. Reviews of both to follow.
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