THE CROSS & THE CRUCIBLE

It is perfectly understandable to think of this guys as a resemblance of some other mid eighties, early nineties bands. Even it's fair enough to compare most of their work done so far to what MARILLION did till the FISH era. It's clear to me that they relied on the essence and composition of already mixed prog formulas to came up with a brand new one that still smells like the oldies and has nothing attractive to bring to the table.

Neo Progressive genre is a very battled one. Not most of the bands involved with that fused prog rock genre actually made it and disappeared pretty soon or even worse, it took them years and years to come up with a whole fresh production. This is the very specific case of bands like TALE CUE and SHADOWLAND that in spite their efforts and well educated music, they just happened to vanish in the eyes of the prog rock.

PALLAS certainly strayed away from their original context and its musical proposition for a while right after "The Sentinel", but at the time they released "Beat the Drum", I realized they were back on track and punchier than ever. By retaking the good prog way with what they reached in "The Cross and the Crucible", PALLAS encouraged themselves to struggle for a spot in the constant back and forth of the prog scene. This a great album to be given a chance to; when directing our ears to great crafted pieces such as "The Cross and the Crucible" itself, "Towers Of Babble" and "Midas Touch" we might as well rethink our conception and judgment upon the band and give it a shot.

Intrepid and challenging, "The Cross and the Crucible" is that kind of experience translated into curiosity and awareness, it is the can of worms ready to be opened. Nothing bad will come along after listening to this album, believe me, it's not the PALLAS CD to be hated, yet to be loved, it's simply their best work so far. Enjoy.