BEAT THE DRUM

After a long hiatus, Pallas finally returned to the fray with Beat the Drum, a competent but not to my ears a particularly outstanding release. Whilst the music here doesn't pander to the mainstream to anything like the extent of tracks like Arrive Alive or Cut and Run from The Sentinel did, I wouldn't say they were as interesting to prog fans as the Atlantis Suite from that selfsame album was; what we have here is pleasant but not particularly daring or innovative melodic rock with AORish leanings. It's an enjoyable album which certainly isn't an embarrassment to the band, but there's little here to save it from being overshadowed by more prominent releases by the group.