THE WEDGE

The second studio release from Pallas. I was somewhat underwhelmed by the first album (The Sentinel). The vocal duties here went to Alan Reed although I don't find him to be much of an improvement here.

"Dance through the Fire" - Almost a "World Music" start that quickly turns into a standard fast tempo neo prog rock track.

"Throwing Stones at the Wind" - Nothing worth writing home about here - almost a standard rock number with a touch of quirkiness up until halfway through when it changes direction for a while pointlessly before returning to the humdrum standard beginning again.

"Win or Lose" - More standard formula fare. Nothing to bring me out of my seat at all.

"The Executioner" - Some warped guitar and other sounds to start seguing into a "world music" section thing interspersed with some up-tempo rock music. They obviously picked up on some of Peter Gabriel's musical sound. After the halfway mark a dramatic flare is introduced to the track followed by some decent lead guitar and interesting keyboard work - then the whole thing just returns to rock mediocrity.

"Imagination" - Styx like keyboard to start spoiled by the kick in of the main body of the track which is really just useless rock fare. Way too playful for me. This isn't even standard rock - it's techno pop music.

"Rat Racing" - More of a progressive fare with tempo changes but it's a case of too little too late. Totally uninteresting. Somewhere somebody will like it but I don't.

"Just a Memory" - Holy Moly! I sat up and paid attention! A diamond in the rough, this one. Also a kind of world music meets neo prog thing but it works for me. I now know that these guys had been paying attention to Peter Gabriel's music - I only need to listen to some of this track as well as "The Executioner" to ascertain that (it's perhaps a pity that they didn't pay more attention).

"Stranger" - Do I hear some of Van Halen's "Jump in there? Yes I do - and I'm not impressed.

"Sanctuary" - This kind of track needs a vocalist that can put a little angst into his voice. One of the better tracks on the album though. I really like this one. Some very nice lead work and some interesting percussion as well.

"Nightmare" - Eerie keyboard sounds to start the track that actually go nowhere interesting with the main body of the track.

I don't like this album at all barring for two tracks. Thankfully this was to be the bands last album with EMI. I am not a techno-pop fan at all and this album carries that banner a lot of the way through. I apologise to any who do love this album out there in music-land but I find very little merit here. A 2 star rating from me saved from a 1 due to two tracks and some good lead guitar work.