THE SENTINEL

Pallas

Neo-Prog

3.54 | 283 ratings

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"The Sentinel" was my first exposure to the music of Pallas ten years ago. After some listenings I became a huge fan of the band.

Pallas is another "so called neo-prog" band, a label that the band itself has always disliked as they showcase not only the obvious symphonic-progressive influences but also hard rock and art rock.

The first noticeable thing while listening "The Sentinel" is the poor sound quality, poor even by mid-80's rock standards. It's strange that a remarkable producer as Eddie Offord couldn't achieve a better quality product. I once heard that there were some serious problems between the band and him by the time of the production of this disc.

Anyway, putting aside the sound quality thing, it's hard to pick a highlight out of this album. "Shock Treatment" is one of the strongest tunes the band has ever done; Arrive Alive (Eyes in the Night) is a very good reworking of the title track of the first album; Heart Attack may sound a bit naive, this song was written back in the late 70's and wasn't available on the original vinyl release of "The Sentinel", however I enjoy the "inmature" feel of this track.

"Rise and Fall", "East West", "March on Atlantis" and "Atlantis" give form to the classic "Atlantis Suite". It's mythical/sci-fi concept is nothing more than a metaphor of the (at the time) ubiquitous nuclear holocaust threat. The extremely cheesy chorus "all the world now join hands at once" on the song "Atlantis" is the inmediate weak point of this record, this flaw is somewhat mended on the majestic finale of the track.

This is an enjoyable record from start to finish. Pallas offers much more than your average "neo-progressive" band. Don't let the corny concept behind this album put you down, remember that "anti-cold war" themes were all about in 80's rock music. I also recommend "MYTHOPOEIA", an MP3 collection released by the group which contains a huge amount of demos, works in progress and outtakes throughout the band's career, including great leftover material from "The Sentinel".

Prosciutto | 4/5 | 2007-4-15

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