SLEEPERS

The intense work for Galahad still continues towards mid-90's.The band records two cover tracks for the Geoff Mann's tribute album ''Mannerisms'' and Genesis' tribute ''The River of Constant Change'' respectively, while an acoustic version of the band under the name Galahad Acoustic Quintet releases the work ''Not All There'' in 1994.In the meantime they continue to perform live in a constant basis.In 1995 it was time for Galahad's third official studio release.The album ''Sleepers'' sees the light in 1995, again on Avalon.

1/3 of the album (''Sleepers'', "Dentist Song'' and "Before, After And Beyond") were tracks already written in early-90's with Mark Andrews on keyboards and Tim Ashton on bass,the rest being new material with new drummer Spencer Luckman and new bassist Neil Pepper.However musically they do not sound much different.The band's sound is deeply rooted in mid- to late-70's GENESIS with some MARILLION-esque overtones,especially on the lyrical and heavy vocal sections.Galahad try some more ambitious approach on ''Sleepers'' compared to their previous releases.Four out of the nine tracks extend the 9-min. mark,but the result is really questionable.They sound a lot like the mediocre tunes of the previous works,just overstretched with little instrumental explosion and strongly leaning on Nicholson's theatrical performance.Dreamy keyboard work,sensitive guitars,deep atmospheres and a light symphonic influence as always offer some moments of beauty,but the arrangements remain a bit unfocused and at places pointless and mainly rather incohesive and unconveincing of their talent.These long questionable explorations are fairly supported by some shorter tracks in a rather Pop-Prog vein with a ballad atmosphere, compositionally decent but far from what we expect from these talented English men.

To my ears Galahad still search for a personal identity and a strong compositional style in ''Sleepers''.Some moments in it are very good and point to the right direction,but again you will be left with a bittersweet taste at the end.Not exactly recommended,''Sleepers'' will be propably a decent addition only for fans of early Neo Progressive Rock styles...2.5 stars.