EMPIRES NEVER LAST

Galahad's sixth studio album is an eerie, haunting and thoughtful masterwork, facing with witty hopelessness the themes of power, faith & the mind's machinations, full of throbbing riffs, masterful songwriting, reflective lyrics and sincere dread; a truly wonderful album that stands along the milestones of 21st century British progressive rock.

This Dorset-based neo-prog outfit decided to go full-power on 'Empires Never Last', a critical reflection upon the mischievous world of the ones in possession of power and a finely crafted musical journey that spans across seven suspense-ridden tracks that fall well within the realms of the epic and the haunting with fascinating complexity, embracing the 'metallization' trend typical for this period of the 80s-born neo-progressive rock sub-genre.

The line-up consists of the great Stu Nicholson on vocals, Roy Keyworth on guitars, Dean Baker on keyboards, Lee Abraham on bass, and Spencer Luckman on drums, the same line-up that released the live album 'Resonance (Live in Poland)', around a year before 'Empires' release, and in whose playlist, one could hear five of the seven tracks of the band's sixth studio album.

The album opens with 'De-Fi-Ance', a choral piece that turns into an instrumental overture preparing the listener for the intense ride that this record is. The second track is 'Termination', a song that could easily let the listener mistake Galahad for a seasoned prog metal band, with this very Dream Theater-ish edge to it. Certainly, this version of the band has nothing to do with the early 90s Fish-era-Marillion-like protégé. Next on the track list is the 14-minute 'I Could Be God', which could be simply described as masterful and compelling, undoubtedly one of the best neo-prog epics in existence. 'Sidewinder' is an 11-minute song about politics, prophets, promises and false heroes, and another fantastic track with mind-shattering instrumental sections. Then comes 'Memories from An Africa Twin', a complex but enjoyable shorter instrumental, compared to the other songs' lengths, transitioning into the heavy title track, another one of Galahad's finest. Finally comes 'This Life Could Be My Last?' to top all things heard so far; from the somber and acoustic intro, the song unfolds into an emotive, atmospheric and anthemic epic piece that contains one of Nicholson's best vocal performances on a studio recording.

'Empires Never Last' certainly deserves all the praise it gets from the progressive rock community, so it is no surprise that this is considered by many Galahad's finest hour - emotionally and sonically, this is a tremendous album on which the band gracefully mix the heavier riffs and the dazzling electronic elements with the neo-progressive rock sensibility, resulting in a very intense and atmospheric piece of work with no weak spots.