YEAR ZERO

Having followed GALAHAD's career from the very start, I can only say these guys keep surprising me album after album. "Year Zero" is a well crafted album although very much in the vein of their earlier work does add the fresh mellotron of Dean Baker. "Year Zero" is an exceptionally well recorded album with the mixing, the mastering sounding incredible... likely GALAHAD's best sounding album yet. As usual GALAHAD deliver an album although very much rooted in the classic prog vein draw on modern modal aspects. John Wetton (ASIA - KING CRIMSON) guests on this album and mixes very well against Stu Nicholson's angelic vocals. The first 4 tracks on this album have to be 4 of the best songs I have heard in a long time. GALAHAD once again you have my ears and Dean welcome aboard... a great album and very much necessary to have in your collection.

GALAHAD always sat smack on the fence that delineates pop from prog. With "Year Zero", they've definitely moved over to prog. It is their most adventurous album to date and their best by far. If you think you've heard it all as far as "progressive" sounds are concerned, you're in for a treat with "Year Zero". To quote Mr. Jerry Lucky, author of The Progressive Rock Files, "Think... TANGERINE DREAM with guitars and drums... fat, analog arpeggios almost in an electronic dance feel." He obviously was referring to a couple of outstanding tracks, "Yearzeroverture" and "Democracy"; but the album also provides some other delights. There's everything in here from jazz to rock to electronics with many themes and tempo changes, not to mention some hair-raising, spooky sounds totally unexpected from the GALAHAD we've come to know. Not only have they got their sound right (for once!), but gone are the sappy ballads and pop ditties of yore. We're talking bold Prog experiments, here, with power to boot. If you like your Prog with muscle and thought GALAHAD never had it in them, check this one out.

Just simply the best Album of 2003. Muse i thought would be promising, Maiden was good good. But my local band came out TOP for this one.They open the album with a haunting piece then Bang. . ! straight into a "rock" track that just smacks you in the face. "WAKE Up" and take some notice. the tracks go from ballards to rock ,from good to better just pure New Prog Rock at its best. Why have they been ignored for so long ? Roll on 2005. 20 Years, "has it been that long ? ? ?" Well done Roy and the rest of the lads. Now for some GIGS ? ? ? Miles.

I found this CD to be very, very eclectic. It's not exactly " classic progressive" in the sense that everyone classifies the genre. It's got some jazzy kind of moments, some space - rock moments and some pyschadelic moments too. What it is, however, is a very well composed and very well performed. It is solid and it is highly enjoyable. I generally don't fixate on breaking down CD's song by song so I won't break the chain here either.

Suffice to say this CD is probably one of those that even if you're not a big fan of the artist, should go into your collection because it has all the elements one looks for in progressive rock albums. Tight musiciaship, odd time signatures, great melodies and a degree of power that can shake the walls with the best hard rock.

Worth the price of admission.

After being very disappointed with "Sleepers" and "Following Ghosts" my perseverance finally pays off with "Year Zero". The reason I have not given up on this band is my love for Stuart Nicholson's vocals. John Wetton adds some lead and backing vocals as well.They thank Andy Thompson from LITMUS and Planet Mellotron for the use of both his mellotron and minimoog. This is a concept album based on starting over or new beginnings, bringing more meaning to the album's title. There is also some reflective passages where they look back on the good and the bad. This is really mean't to be one long song that is broken into sections.

"Year Zeroverture" takes a while to get going as mellotron can be heard and flute. 2 minutes in we start to get a full sound with electronics and percussion. A real melody after 3 minutes sounds great, check out the mellotron ! "Belt Up" opens with the sound of a female choir, voices and thunder. Guitar comes in with synths right behind. Tremendous sound at this point. We finally get to hear Stuart's vocals for the first time. And i'm not disappointed. The soaring guitar is fantastic ! Mellotron follows. I love these guys ! "Ever The Optimist" opens with minimoog and is spacey. Vocals sing "Open your eyes, see the vista of light" a couple of times before some scorching guitar comes in. Nice. The guitar soars later on as drums beat crisply. "The Charlotte Suite" continues with the same sound with the vocals, guitar and drums. "Haunted" opens with fragile vocals that get stronger. A full sound a minute in. The guitar is again so appealing, as is the organ that follows. Such a good track. "Democracy" is the longest song by far at just under 10 minutes. Spacey sounds with lots of atmosphere to open. We start to hear guitar sounds and then an electronic beat.3 minutes in we get some heavy, raw riffing. Headbanging time. The riffs stop and then the beat stops as spacey sounds return. Electronics 7 minutes in as song continues until ending with mellotron. "Baroque And Roll Dementia" has a good, catchy beat with vocal melodies part way through. I like it. "A Deeper Understanding ?" opens with spacey sounds as synths and drums follow. Vocals arrive and then flute and sax. "The Jazz Suite" is jazzy indeed with bass, light drums and piano leading the way. "Take A Deep Breath And Hold On Tight" has mellotron, guitar and vocals that all shine brightly. Too short though. "Hindsight Pt. 1-Piano And Clarinet" features piano until surprise !... the clarinet comes in. Nice track. "Hindsight Pt.2-A Very Clever Guy Indeed" features vocals and piano. This really reminds me of Fish-era MARILLION. Great track. Guitar arrives 4 minutes in. "The September Suite" is dramatic sounding to open. Waves of synths wash through. Church organ to end it. "World Watcher" continues with the organ from the previous song but with Stuart singing his heart out. "Deceptive Vistas / Postscript-Perspective" opens with great vocals as guitar and mellotron make this an excellent closing track. Very epic sounding with the trumpet and choirs to end it.

It's easy to tell that a lot of heart and soul went into this album, all I have to say is bravo !

This band hasn't been a fave of mine but they have produced a couple of good albums (even if "Following Ghosts" was a disaster to my ears).

This album is more symphonic than usual and the band is trying some successful experimentations. Nothing from the other world but at least they showed a concern for more complex stuff (compared to their standards).

"Year Zero" holds few great songs IMO. The best moment is a great guitar solo during "Ever The Optimist". And I quite dislike the vocals during the AOR-ish "Haunted". What happened to Stuart Nicholson?

The most complex song of the whole is "Democracy". Space-rock oriented intro for what should be the highlight. But I have to say that these hard-rocking-electro beats are quite unbearable to me. Just as the vocals. This song is a collage of several parts which doesn't have anything in common.

And even if there are some fine keyboards moments at half time (let's speak in terms of football since it is the Champions League final tonight) the remaining parts of this track are going nowhere (from Chinese sounds to electro pop).

In such a desert, the instrumental "Baroque & Roll Dementia" almost sounds as a relief. But it is immediately followed by a poor "Deeper Understanding" during which Stuart almost wants to sound as Jon Anderson. Weak.

This album is absolutely not consistent. A musical patchwork: from jazz ("The Jazz Suiçte") to very good neo-prog ("Take A Deep Breathe Breath."). The problem with the latter is that it only lasts for ninety-five seconds. It is my fave here.together with the second leg of Hindsight 2. The album ends up on a bombastic and fine Deceptive Vistas / Postscript - Perspective.

Year Zero" is not a great album. Not such a blunder as "Ghosts" but nothing truly memorable. Two stars.

Galahad belts up?

Starting life as a rather traditional Neo-Prog band, Galahad has come a long way since their inception in 1985. Over the years, Galahad has released six proper studio albums (not counting compilations, re-mix albums and the acoustic one-off album Not All There) with the present album appearing a mere three years after the previous Following Ghosts album - the shortest gap between albums in Galahad's history (given that In A Moment Of Complete Madness was in reality an 80's album released in 1993). I prefer to divide the band's career into two equal halves with 1995's Sleepers as the culmination of their first era and 2007's Empires Never Last as the culmination of their second era.

Year Zero is advertised as an album-length, multi-part composition, but in reality it is a collage of songs and instrumental interludes in various different styles. The first four sections do, however, hang together very well and this portion of the album has become a mainstay in the band's live set. John Wetton of King Crimson and Asia fame makes a guest appearance on this album providing some lead vocals on Belt Up and Take A Deep Breath And Hold On Tight (the latter Wetton appearance is a repeat of the same basic passage from Belt Up) as well as some backing vocals. It is always nice to hear Wetton's distinctive voice, but with such a fine vocalist in Stuart Nicholson they didn't really need outside participation. But it probably helped to boost sales!?

Haunted begins promisingly with some electric piano and a strong vocal but it soon develops into a heavily Deep Purple-like, bluesy rocker complete with Hammond organ! Not bad at all, but you tend to lose sight of the idea that Year Zero is supposed to be an album-length, conceptual piece. After the good, but somewhat disjointed Following Ghosts album, you would have hoped for this follow-up to be a more consistent effort, but sadly Year Zero suffers from the same shortcomings, only exacerbated! Following Ghosts had several redeeming features, but Year Zero features at best some good bits and pieces scattered thinly over the album. Thankfully, they keep it a bit more concise this time with a running time of just under an hour.

The nearly ten minute Democracy is Hawkwind-like Space Rock all the way and it is indeed hard to recognize this one as being a Galahad number. Do not expect this to be anything like the excellent Bug Eye, which was the centrepiece from the previous album. Year Zero doesn't have a centrepiece! With the exception of the aforementioned Take A Deep Breath And Hold On Tight (which is a short reminder of Belt Up from the beginning of the album; again with Wetton on lead vocals) and Hindsight 2 - A Very Clever Guy, the rest of the album consists mostly of shorter instrumental pieces with a surprisingly jazzy and also Classical nature with lots of vintage keyboard instruments as well as flutes, saxophone, clarinet and trumpet! To my mind this is where the album loses its way and becomes an incoherent mess of seemingly randomly assembled bits and pieces that shouldn't have been allowed to escape from the drawing board. (It is indeed doubtful that they ever were on the "drawing board" in the first place as they sound more like the result of a jam!)

The conclusion can only be that Year Zero falls rather flat despite the reasonably strong opening and a few good bits scattered over the rest of the album. The highlights are the first four sections as well as the ballad Hindsight 2. The opening portion of the album is though readily available on live recordings and Galahad is a more powerful band in a live setting anyway.

Somewhat disappointing this one. Indeed, this is my least favourite Galahad album.

Galahad are an unusual member of the 1980's Neo-prog cohort.....they are, I think, more than the marillion clones they have often been labelled as. The album preceding this one (Following Ghosts) was a deliberate attempt to counter the charge of Neo-prog by the numbers marilli-clone. That album really was trying too hard! This time round the band have reigned in the perceived need to be eclectic and inventive just enough to make a far more coherent musical statement. This is still a record of diverse elements .... but one where those elements work in harmony. Itis beautifully recorded and produced and wrapped in a gorgeous cover. THISis Galahad's finest statement. The album that follows does what all neo-prog bands seem to be doing now - going heavier in a desperate attempt for wider acceptance. Listen to this one ... here they hit the spot.

When I saw the DVD of Galahad in Poland I was stunned by the proficiency of Dean Baker, the keyboard player. I'd originally bought that DVD on the back of hearing 'Empires never last', and I realised what I was witnessing was something very different. Infact, it now seems that the trance/Philip Glass stuff belonged to this album, 'Year zero.' So, when I started 'listening' to the album, I was familiar with all of the music already...

What I find are two unlikely bedfellows. That is, a keyboard player intent on creating atmosphere, whilst the rest of the band want to play Neo-prog...

I don't believe that the two 'fuse' together ultimately. It's more like 'You do your bit, and we'll take over afterwards...'

I like 'atmosphere' music, and I have no complaints, because I like what I hear. What's more, the 'atmosphere' stuff is probably stronger than the Neo-prog stuff...

It's not a 3*, and equally it's probably not a genuine 4* either. I'll go with the latter however, as this album certainly deserves a listen.

It is safe to say that the end of the Nineties and into the Millenium was a trying time for Galahad. From the middle of 1992 until 1998 they had kept the same line-up, but in 1998 not only did they have to find a new keyboard player but also Roy Keyworth had left. Given that Roy was the only original member apart from Stu, this was quite a shock to everyone involved with the band and I clearly remember hours of conversation with Stu at the time. Luckily Roy returned the following year, and with new keyboard player Dean Baker on board they started work on 'Year Zero'. Galahad have never been afraid of pushing boundaries, and had released albums as Galahad Acoustic Quintet and Galahad Electric Company, but here they stayed much more within the prog field but definitely changed their approach.

This is their only concept album (so far), with one piece of continuous music broken down into fifteen digestible chunks (to make it easier for CDs) and they had clearly spread their musical wings. In fact it takes until nearly halfway through the second track for the album to become recognisable as Galahad, as they are utilising the talents of Dean on keyboards to take the music in a new direction. He certainly brought a great many new sounds and effects to the band, some sounding much more like Hawkwind or Ozric Tentacles than Genesis! When Roy starts riffing it soon becomes clear that this is the old band with a lot of new ideas, which even allowed for John Wetton to sing a few lead lines, which certainly confuses the ear as he is quite different to Stu but was trying to sing in Stu's style.

It would be easy to fall into the cliché and say that this is the album where Galahad grew up, yet in many ways that is very true. They started with a clean palette and brought many new styles and colours to their sound, so many that at times it is hard to think that this was the same band that brought us 'Nothing Is Written'. Except of course it isn't. They had already been through a few keyboard players and bassists by then, and everyone was older, and that is reflected in the music that is far more mature and thoughtful. There is space, which allows the music to live and breathe.

That isn't to say that this is a sit back and relax mellowed out album, but rather one where ideas and energy have been allowed to flow and grow. "Charlotte Suite" is a short instrumental interlude and is instantly recognisable as Galahad, yet on the following "Haunted" it is really only Stu's distinctive vocals that mark it out as being by them.

This is the tenth anniversary edition which is a double disc digipak, with the second disc containing a rare live performance of 'Year Zero' taken directly from the desk of a Galahad show at Mr Kyps in Poole in 2003, by which time Neil Pepper had already left the band to be replaced by Peter Wallbridge. This is an interesting piece of history, and is fun to listen to, but is probably only going to be of interest to hardcore fans. Overall this is a really nice set, and having listened to this album for the first time in a while I wonder just how many have overlooked this period of the band as this is a fine album. It marked the starting point of the journey that led to 'Battle Scars' and 'Feel Euphoria', and although the guys have been unable to have a stable line-up it was the 'Year Zero' members that recorded those albums. Worth investigating. www.galahadonline.com

Review Nº 246

Galahad was formed in 1985, just for fun. In those times, they played half covers songs of Genesis, Led Zeppelin, Rush, Black Sabbath, Marillion, Focus, etc., and half of original material. Galahad then supported a few fairly very well known progressive rock bands, that were coming up at the time, including IQ, Marillion, Pendragon, Pallas, Haze and Magnum.

But, in the 90's, fortunately, Galahad decided to take it more seriously, playing only original material from them. The result of that decision came out in the release of their first proper album in 1991, called 'Nothing Is Written', which was purely sel-financed and released independently by the band. The final result was the sold of several thousand copies.

The success of 'Nothing Is Written' also was helped by the fact that the band received substantial air play on the BBC Radio One, especially on the Radio One Rock Show. The band then landed themselves with deals in the UK, Japan and Germany. Thanks to that, they became much more known and put them into much higher flights in the following years.

So, after more than thirty years, the band released more than thirty works, including twelve studio albums, six live albums, a DVD and twelve compilations, according to Progarchives. By the other hand, Galahad played hundreds of live gigs in the UK, Europe and America over the last years, and at times, even in some very unusual and original venues.

So, it was in this context that appeared 'Year Zero' which was released in 2002. Since their foundation until that date, they had only released six studio albums. So, we have only six albums in seventeen years. But 'Year Zero' became a mark of change in their long, but at the same time, short career. Their next studio album 'Empires Never Last' took the band in a heavier, more muscular, guitar oriented direction. This more contemporary musical approach seems to have worked making of this work the band's most successful album to date, both commercially and critically, and resulted in the album win the title of 'Album of the Year' at the Classic Rock Society awards, in 2007. In 2012 the band returned with two new studio albums 'Battle Scars' and 'Beyond The Realms Of Euphoria' that became two new great albums. They confirmed the position as a great prog act with the last two studio albums, 'Quiet Storms' and 'Seas Of Change'.

So, 'Year Zero' is the seventh studio album of Galahad and was released in 2002. This is a conceptual album with about one hour of music. The album is performed as only one piece of continuous music and is the most instrumental oriented album that Galahad has recorded in their entire career. It's divided into fifteen parts, including songs and instrumentals. Some pieces are integrated, like instrumental segments, and others are just mixed together. This and the fact that some themes are returning, give to the album a strong conceptual feel and turning it in a truly prog rock album.

As you would expect with a Galahad's release, especially the last ones, 'Year Zero' contains a myriad of musical styles including classical, baroque, jazz interludes, a heavy psychedelic musical section incorporating techno beats and industrial grooves as well as the usual traditional sound of the progressive music and heavy rock, punctuated by some quieter and more sensitive musical passages before the album reaches a grand and rousing choral crescendo to finish, supported by the Cantori Catholic Choir. Vocal harmonies are one of the features that Galahad uses to great effects.

So, 'Year Zero' is their first conceptual album, with one piece of continuous music broken down into fifteen digestible chunks, to make it easier for CD's, and they had clearly spread their musical wings. In fact, it takes until nearly halfway through the second track for the album to become recognisable as Galahad, as they are utilising the talents of Dean Baker on keyboards to take the music in a new direction. He certainly brought great many new sounds and effects to the band, some sounding much more like Hawkwind or Ozric Tentacles than like Genesis. But, when Stu starts singing, soon becomes clear this is the old band with a lot of new ideas, which even allowed for John Wetton to sing a few lead lines, which certainly confuses the ear as he is quite different to Stuart Nicholson, but was trying to sing in Stu's style.

Conclusion: 'Year Zero' isn't an album that can easily be digested on the first listenings, but requires many hearings to ful appreciate all that is encompassed. I'm deeply impressed by this album. The group has been called a promising band for a long time, but this new release is a very strong musical statement and proves that the band is very much alive. Their earlier Marillion influences are almost completely gone. The music on the album is a powerful combination of the traditional and more recent rock styles and its sound is quite modern with the music concentrated on moods and melodies, without overly too long instrumental parts. The audio quality of the album is also very good. Concluding, with 'Year Zero' Galahad made an amazing album and finally they have made a huge step into the future of their music. I'm sure this album will already feature in the musical collection of many fans of the band, but for those unsure, or perhaps unfamiliar with the music of Galahad, this would make a worthy introduction. 'Year Zero' continues growing on me.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)