IN THE WAKE OF THE MOON

Galleon's 9th album In The Wake of The Moon was my first encounter with this band's music.It looks that until now at least three people consider it a masterpiece.Well, de gustibus non disputandum... IMHO it's the blandest album released this year.I've listened to albums I liked, I listened to albums I loved and I listened to albums that I didn't like. This is one of the few albums that I find boring. Lots of keyboards, bland vocals, melodic neo prog but nothing inciting, engaging, exciting. I finally decided to rate it three stars because it's a decent effort and it's listenable.But one expects more from a band that got to their 9th album.Especially in a year in a year with great prog releases.

As soon as you see the Galleon logo you know where you are ? the titling script which first appeared on Genesis' 'The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway' is unmistakeable. The compositions also owe much to Genesis, with inventive instrumentals, changing tempos and repeated themes, and the title track is pretty much a tribute to 'Fading Lights', the final track from 'We Can't Dance'. There are strong Jadis influences too, in 'Wallflower' and 'Over the Hills', the instrumental 'Child's Play' takes us into King Crimson territory, (revisited in 'Woodland Creatures'), and Yes influences come to the front in 'Aftermath'. This is their ninth album, and after playing it several times, I think it's their best yet. My only criticism is with the lyrics, where the clumsy English really does spoil the music. Goran, before you record the next album, please send your lyrics to me, I can then stop you putting things like 'The time of our life's', 'The struggle and the strive' and 'Echoes lingers on'! I would rather hear you sing in Swedish!

Wow !

Another excellent surprise proudly presented by Prog Archives. No wonder I am a member here.

I believe I interviewed this band in the wake of the release of this album. Actually, it was back in January this year. An interesting interview with a band just bubbling under the surface. If their other albums is as good as this one or anywhere near as good as this; we are talking about a criminally overlooked band.

The claims they were highly influenced by the King Crimson album Power To Believe. The result was this album. And yes, there is a lot of King Crimson influences here amongst Genesis, PFM (Italy), Camel and Anglagard influences too. The Scandinavian somber darkness also shines through and is there like fog over a snowfilled landscape. But this darkness can also be attributed to Italy too and fans of Rock Progressivo Italiano should also wander off from their spaghetti forests habitat to check out this album.

Their sound is dominated by keyboards, with a lot of help from great vocals, guitars, bass and drums. The song build ups and structure is typical symphonic prog with a great melody line supported by some spicy bass lines and drum patterns. These build ups is typical Camel.

The result is an album full of great songs. The very Ingmar Bergman movie soundtrack sounding title track is the best song here. But the rest is in the same quality bracket. The lack of a killer track is a bit of a problem. But this is great album and a very appetising intro to this band in my case. I want more albums from Galleon. Ignore this album at your peril of you love Swedish prog.

4 stars

Galleon's lates album to date from 2010 named In the wake of the moon is another worthy album from their catalogue. To me Galleon is one of the most consistent bands I've ever hered, they don't have weak albums, each release got something to offer to the listner. This 2010 album is somehow to my ears little diffrent , the neo prog atmosphere is only here and there they optaining for old school progressive rock. Anyway some great passages here, the guitars and keyboards has an important role, with long instrumental passages. Lenghty pieces again like on every Galleon album, with elaborated parts and quite complicated aswell. The best moments are to me, the opening track and the excellent instrumental Childs Play. So, all in all a pleasent one for sure but I don't think it reaches the beauty of the '90's albums, their best period to me. 3 stars, good but nothing is really impressive, only good.

The first three songs of this album are really good but the three of them keep on the same style that make it sound a bit monotonous. The real adventure starts in the track number 4 with the title track 'In the Wake of the Moon', a song full of keyboard background and which has a dreamy feeling. The next song is as well as excellent 'War at Home', which I consider the best song of the album. Then, it follows 'Over the hills and 3 feet under', an instrumental but good track. The weakest song, to me, is Mr. Murphy, with a repetitive sound and lack of creativity, which is spilled all over the rest of the album. The final track retakes the good level of the album and closes it in good terms. Galleon managed to create an album with the basic elements of neo progressive music and trying to improve their previous albums. Recommended!

I am not sure what happened with this album. Galleon pushed out "Engines Of Creation" 3 years earlier and it was a smash! In many ways it is generally their best work in my opinion. It was very well done and had some great surprises in it and the guitar work was stellar. I had expected something similar but not only did the guitar work become more laid back but the album overall for me is very unmemorable.

Maybe this is why they chose not to put another one out. They were working on one in 2014 but a few years later came their announcement that they were done. They were a unique band. I struggle with this album to find much on it that impresses me.

"Wallflower" is the best track on the album and has some good transitions. "Child's Play has some good stuff in it as well. "Over The Hills?" prods its way along not really going anywhere. Overall it is as if they were struggling to find anything fresh. The last track "Rain" left me saying "WHAT? Is that it?"

This is one of those albums that you have to really search hard to find anything on it that lives up to the greatness of the band. RIP Galleon.