THE DREAMS OF MEN

Pallas

Neo-Prog

3.99 | 315 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

ZowieZiggy
Prog Reviewer

This fifth original studio album in a period of twenty years is the one I prefer from Pallas.

It opens on a very spacey and Floydian Bringer Of Dreams (indeed). It reminds me a Pendragon overture which borrowed to Floyd as well: The Walls of Babylon from their Window Of Life album. I like this ambient mood which is not common for the band. An excellent mix of symph and neo parts (which starts after three minutes).

They get back with a more traditional Warriors which is more on the harder edge. Pallas did experience some rock ballads as well, and to be honest Ghost Dancers is not bad at all. I particularly like the vocal job from Alan Reed and the great guitar one from Mathewson. Whether the Redbone like closing was necessary is maybe another story.

Messiah sounds a bit too much as a musical to my liking (especially when Reed plays the prophet's role). It is the weakest song so far but the long and previous Too Close To The Sun was not really thrilling either.

An ocean of tranquillity invades your body while listening to the instrumental Northern Star. It sounds almost as a TD track. And I like it. After this smooth passage, let's head into some heavier and ELP-ish sounds with Mr. Wolfe (at least during the intro).

I don't really like the second part of this album. It sounds more as an Ayreon work. A song as Invincible has it all: narration, metal riffs, heavy bass lines etc. This metal orientation is not an isolated case BTW, several neo-prog bands do this nowadays. It is just a musical evolution. Excellent closing guitar section.

In all, this album holds some very good tracks but others as well. Another very good part is the finale of The Last Angel.

Three stars.

ZowieZiggy | 3/5 | 2008-10-26

MEMBERS LOGIN ZONE

As a registered member (register here if not), you can post rating/reviews (& edit later), comments reviews and submit new albums.

You are not logged, please complete authentication before continuing (use forum credentials).

Share this PALLAS review

Social review comments () BETA

Review related links

Send comments to ZowieZiggy
Report this review (#186985)
Buy PALLAS music online with PA partners
Show all PALLAS MP3/Stream
Go to PALLAS page for videos, full discography with ratings, reviews and much more
Go to The Dreams of Men page for more details, where to buy and ratings/reviews
Search the Forum for PALLAS related discussions