SEAS OF CHANGE

Galahad excels with Seas Of Change. Just as Comedy Of Errors presented their album spirit several years ago as a single track, Galahad does this again with a sublime suite of more than 42 minutes, full of the musical ingenuity that the band from Dorset has been offering us for over thirty years. .

The central theme of Seas Of Change can be captured in one word: BREXIT. Strongly politically engaged texts are the result when Stu Nicholson sings about the political climate in England. He looks with mixed feelings at the disappearance of his country hostage by social upheaval, mass confusion, an uncertain future and protests. But above all he paints a picture of the brutality that comes from the responsible politicians and all the resulting anger and frustrations.

A heavy subject, although Galahad knows how to make it musically brilliant and yet also airy, in which the entire spectrum of their repertoire is touched. Opening in an ambient style with references to Tangerine Dream and Latimer- like guitar playing, Nicholson is involved in this suite from The Great Unknown, the third movement. From the very beginning, Lee Abraham, already bass player in the band from 2005 to 2009, shines with strong and diverse guitar playing, that to be honest, Roy Keyworth, certainly a gifted guitarist, is in the crown.

Seas Of Change is a suite that, with each turn, grows into a compelling epic. The group chooses its moments for surprising breaks, choral parts and wonderfully lingering guitar playing, in which the dance influences of predecessors Battlescars and Beyond The Realms Of Euphoria, which date back to 2012, dominate less but perform a serving function.

Seas Of Change also marks the return of bassist Tim Ashton, who left for Japan after the publication of Nothing Is Written in 1990 and only returned in 2015 and that year debuted on Northern Prog; incidentally the last concert with Roy Keyworth on guitar. With the bringing in of Lee Abraham as a guitarist, the band seems to have tapped into a new dimension, with a better balance between the guitar and Dean Baker's keyboard work. Ashton and drummer Spencer Luckman provide the tight foundation, while Nicholson comes out of his career with his most politically engaged lyrics. It makes Seas Of Change a highlight in Galahad's oeuvre.