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Galahad - Nothing Is Written CD (album) cover

NOTHING IS WRITTEN

Galahad

 

Neo-Prog

2.46 | 99 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

ZowieZiggy
Prog Reviewer
2 stars There are good things and some other ones on this debut album.

The mood is very much "IQ" oriented (especially during the opener). On the vocals front, I am not highly impressed with Stuart Nicholson even if he is emotive during "Evaporation" which is a fine and melodic ballad. Very delicate. Like "Don't Lose Control" (on the mellow side).

But the best song of this album is IMO, the opening song. "Face The Sun" holds some good promises and depicts quite well "Galahad" style. Melodic neo-prog. Not as emotional as "Pendragon", not as dark as "IQ" and not as powerful of as "Marillion". The band doesn't play in the premier league of the neo-prog genre but still, this album isn't bad.

Some tracks as "Motherland" or "The Atomaton" could have been avoided, but they were pretty much in- line with the production of the early nineties and one can hardly blame this band for not being visionaries. They play their music: simple and straight-forward, heavily keyboards oriented but not really captivating.

Production of this album is also on the weaker end (but it is their debut) and some monotony might result in the listening of this album. I can fully understand both very high ratings from neo-prog lovers and very low ones from some other reviewers. I guess that I am somewhat between the two philosophies.

Liking neo-prog not because it is an exceptional and creative genre, but because it provides very good surprises at times and it revived a dying genre at a certain point of time. This is my approach.

No real highlights here (except the opening number) but some good songs like "Room 801" and "Aqaba" which sounds obviously Oriental (both musically and lyrically).

In all, this is not a great album. Average, would I say. This means five out of ten, downgraded to two stars. The more I listen to it, the less I feel great about it. Still, the closing number "Richelieus Prayer" is another great song. More complex, it displays several different themes and the voice is more accurate here than on any other song. Good guitar as well for the most symphonic piece of this album. But two great songs don't make a great album, I guess.

ZowieZiggy | 2/5 |

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