XXV

So my view on Pallas' recorded output before XXV. The Sentinel - Brilliant, a landmark of prog. ***** The Wedge - Very disappointing * Beat The Drum - Nice comeback *** The Cross & Crucible - Great stuff **** The Dreams of Men - Can't get into most of it **

So what of XXV? Well I decided to order it without a pre-listen, simply based on the fact that the band woud surely need to put out something that stood comparison with The Sentinel.

First the new vocalist. Well for me, Alan Reed was something on an acquired taste and he never had the power of Euan Lowson. But we now have Paul Mackie. Well his delivery leans more towards Lowson than Reed and IMHO that is for the better.

The pre-release MP3 download The Atlantean was a nice touch. A slow tempo atmospheric instrumental revisiting some of the themes from 25 years ago. But this was deemed suitable to start the ablum with!

OK, so what do we get? The album kicks off with Falling Down, an out and out rocker with a rather simplistic chorus. Crash & Burn follows with echoes of Cut & Run, but this is even heavier. For me neither of these really work. Too fast, too heavy, too little melody. Next up is Something In The Deep - now this one is more in the style I was expecting, slow plaintive lyrics over sustained keyboard washes - very nice. Monster is the single and you can see why - standard fare. The Alien Messiah has a nice chunky feel to it, but here Mackie strains his voice beyond what is comfortable. XXV Part1 is the highlight of the album with a rumbling bass and a great singalong feel. Young God - more prog-metal, but dreary. Sacrifice - sounds a bit like moderm Rush, something missing. Blackwood - a short instrumental that is simply an intro for Voilet Sky, which is this albums attempt at Blood & Roses, but does not really work. XXV Part 2 pulls the whole thing together in reasonable fashion.

In summary, anyone expecting The Sentinel part 2 in terms of style will be disappointed. But then there is no point in the band repeating themselves is there? What we get is mostly non-prog music dressed up with special effects, chorals and keyboard embellisments. The production is first class, the playing top notch, but what it lacks is truely great melody.

So from me only 2 stars. Sorry boys - I really wanted to like this.