THE DREAMS OF MEN

Pallas

Neo-Prog

3.99 | 317 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

yes

Simply magnificent! For me 'The Dreams of Men' is the first album by Pallas to rival their classic 'The Sentinel' from 1984.

I'm a big fan of 'The Cross and The Crucible', nevertheless to me this is a superior release demonstrating stronger song-writing. Impecable musicianship is backed up by a clear and dynamic production. This album has a huge symphonic scale, mainly due to the brilliant orchestral/vintage sounding keyboard work of Ronnie Brown. Graeme Murray and Colin Fraser provide a tight and slick rhythm section and Niall Mathewson really shines on this release. His guitar work whilst still highly melodic and emotive is notably heavier at times with a more aggressive, gritty rock feel. This is one of the aspects which I feel sets this album apart. Whilst the album is linked thematically, each track stands alone with it's own identity, there's no fillers here.

Highlights for me are the epics - 'The Bringer of Dreams', 'Ghostdancers' and especially 'Too Close To The Sun', 'Invincible' (reminiscent of 'The Sentinel') and the beautiful 'The Last Angel'. 'Warriors' and 'Mr Wolfe' are also both superb more up tempo tracks. Lyrically 'The Dreams of Men' has a harder edged more contemporary feel. Contrary to some reviews here, I feel Alan Reed delivers his best vocal performance on this album (along with the outstanding 'The Blinding Darkness' live set), ably backed by the excellent voice of Graeme Murray.

I can't recommend this neo-prog masterpiece highly enough!! I would suggest it is one of the most crucial releases of 2005 along with 'Deadwing' by Porcupine Tree and 'Ghost Reveries' by Opeth.

As my first review I would like to say Progarchives.com is the bible of Progressive Rock, a fantastic site and resource!

| 5/5 | 2005-12-30

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