THE WEDGE

Pallas' major label debut displayed a stark gulf between the more commercial-leaning tracks and their more prog-leaning pieces. With Euan Lowson out as frontman, Alan Reed installed in his place, and the band on borrowed time, The Wedge finds them trying to more smoothly blend the two approaches. Their commercial side seems to have the edge - and Alan Reed is able to switch from the prog turf of Abel Ganz, his former band, to the more arena rock sound of this album fairly deftly. You can absolutely imagine this incarnation of Pallas opening for Asia, and whether or not that's a good thing overall depends on your tolerance for Asia.

The running order puts the more poppy efforts like Dance Through the Fire and single release Throwing Stones At the Wind at the start, leading to slower and slightly more prog-inflected material bringing up the rear - an approach take on on some latter-day CD rereleases of The Sentinel, come to think of it. I can understand why prog purists might turn off the album after the first few songs - and those who exert patience might find that the album is too light on complexity and intricacy to win them over by the time the gentle closing track Just a Memory fades out. What it lacks in those categories, however, it makes up for in a sort of mid-1980s atmosphere which some (like me) may find cool and appealing, but others will find it doesn't emotionally connect with them.

On balance, I quite like it, but I can see why it was perhaps time to go on hiatus for a bit and reconvene with new purpose later on.

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