XXV

After the strong 'The Cross and the Crucible' of 2001 and 'The Dreams of Men' of 2005 Pallas was dropped by the InsideOut label. It would take the band six years to release another album, but not before loosing its charismatic lead singer Alan Reed. On 'XXV' the band would introduce Paul Mackie who has a powerful voice of his own, but less of that sense of natural neo-prog drama. The band would engineer and produce the album by themselves and that is something you can hear; the album is less dynamic and not as intelligently produced than its predecessors. Moreover, on two songs ('Sacrifice' and 'Young God') the vocals sound as if it were a demo take. The guitars don't cut the mix that well and the keyboards drown during heavier moments. The band moved away from their typical neo-prog vibes towards a more regular symphonic metal style, though this is still clearly Pallas. The album is a concept album about the end of the world, yet lyrically this has given the band little inspiration. Now, clearly I'm not very enthusiastic about this record, but it does have some great songs. The first two songs are intense, fierce and full of energy (as much as the mix allows) and the third track 'Something in the Deep' is a great melancholy ambient track. 'Monsters' is a bit simple, but catchy in a fun way. The title track 'XXV part 1' is also a great heavy neo-prog track with those typical spot on Pallas moments. The rest of the album sounds rather flat to my ears and the album ends rather uneventful. After 'XXV' the band ended up with no label at all and their 2014 release 'whearewhoweare' got way too little attention, for that record is actually really good, even among their best, in my opinion. On that album Paul Mackie sings brilliantly throughout by the way. The vinyl print of 'XXV' sounds as good as the digital edition, but printing 60 minutes of music on a single vinyl is of course not ideal.