HERITAGE AND VISIONS

I have this strange attraction to GALLEON's music, maybe because they are such big RUSH fans as I am, I don't know. I do know they play very melodic music with always excellent lyrics. This one isn't as good as their debut, or the one that follows it in my opinion. I agree with Prog-jester though that this is a solid 3.5 star album.

"Lullaby" opens with synths that are replaced quickly by guitar. Vocals before 1 1/2 minutes.This is what I love about the band, the vocals and the beautiful melody along with them. A heavy passage comes and goes in contrast. Check out the acoustic guitar and reserved vocals. A beautiful section. Synths and an ominous vibe 5 1/2 minutes in. It's uptempo again. Some violin late to end it. Great track. "Sniper" is a cool song about being a soldier in the jungle. Synths and reserved vocals to open. It changes to a full sound quickly. A nice heavy sound 2 1/2 minutes in. The guitar melody sounds really good. Pounding drums before 4 minutes. I love the guitar/synth melody after 5 minutes. "Permanent Vacation" is over 16 minutes long. It opens with the synths swirling. Guitar and drums join in. Piano and vocals follow. A very relaxing passage follows until it kicks back in after 4 minutes.The contrast continues. Some nice bass lines after 7 minutes. Check out the guitar before 9 minutes. The mood and tempo continues to shift. An Eastern flavour with synths to end it. Intentions opens with acoustic guitar followed by a bombastic melody that reminds me of their fellow Swedes THE FLOWER KINGS. It calms down with some piano. Out of nowhere 6 1/2 minutes to the end of the song we get heavy riffs that would make BLACK SABBATH fans happy. Shocking really.

"The Beat Of A Different Tree" features more beautiful piano, drums and great vocals. I like this a lot. Some aggressive guitar before 5 minutes followed by heavy drums to end it. "Lights" has too much of an eighties feel to it for my liking. I like the guitar to end it though. "Bobo The Gardener" is another song i'm not fond of. Acoustic guitar,piano and birds singing. "Short Story" is my favourite song on here. It's just a feel good song with fun lyrics. The drumming shines on this one. It's so uplifting, this is what I love about these guys. I like the line "When you're at home watching Oprah it's hard to keep your pride"(haha). The final song is an instrumental called "Tribute" which is no doubt a tribute to the boys from Canada.This has RUSH stamped all over it. From the fat Geddy-like bass, to the synth runs and drumming. My second favourite song on here.

I hate giving this less then 4 stars, but there are 3 very average songs in my opinion that bring it down to 3.5 stars. Some excellent tracks on here though.