KING OF ARAGON

My third review of an album by this Swedish band and it seems as if they get better and better the more works I hear by them. Actually I hadn't expected too much of this one since it had only 4 ratings. On the other hand it had a high average so that gave me hope of having bought a winner.

First track is the lengthy title track and it's the kind of song that sets the tone for the entire album. It's an inventive composition with lots of variation and it still sounds very accessible. And then I mean accessible in the positive way, the way of it's pleasant to listen to and not in the sense of being a simple song. 4,5*.

Crime Wave is an energetic short song sounding cheerful and positive. Despite this it's the least track of the album but that also says a lot about the other ones. 3,25*.

From Square to Circle is actually a lot like the opening track. Same length, same variation, also accessible, inventive and really great where the musicianship is concerned. Especially the last few minutes are impressive and delightful. 4,5*.

Illusive Exhibition is again more like the second song making tracks 3 and 4 more or less a repeat of track one and two. Of course the song is in detail completely different but in general sound it's somewhat the same. Fine compositional effort once again. 3,5*.

Fall of Spring is a totally different story all over sudden. This is probably the most original song Galleon has ever produced. I already described Galleon is an accessible band usually playing the very melodic sort of songs. But with Fall of Spring we move in very unknown territory, this is a totally eclectic song making a band like Gentle Giant look pale I can tell you !! What an incredible surprise, this track is full of dissonants and sounds extremely distorted, at least for Galleon standards. Still I like it a lot. They prove with this one that playing the difficult, complex and dissonant material is even feasible for a typical neoband ! 4*.

With Long Lonely shadows they fortunately return to their own style again. It's the third long track but in fact neither of the three are real epics, more long songs. This one is again impressive in the same way the other two are. I can only conclude these Swedish masters are huge compositional talents. 4,5*.

I can subscribe the words by John Davie noticing these guys probably have a lot of fun making their music. I would too if I had the abilities these guys have. They make perfect compositions and execute them in a flawless way. The average score so far of 3,97 is totally deserved. And they have another fan with yours truly I can tell you. It's a shame this fantastic album has only 5 ratings. What are you all waiting for ? Try and get it I would say. At least if you are a neo fan.