NOTHING IS WRITTEN

'Nothing Is Written' is the debut album by British neo-progressive veterans Galahad, a self-released album that they put out in 1991, after six years of existence, touring, playing covers and occasionally writing original material that they collected in a one-hour record that went on to sell several thousand copies, surprisingly or not, and allowed the band to continue to pursue their musical needs ever since.

The band started out in the mid-80s and happen to be one of the so-called 'second generation' progressive rock bands. However, they did not release anything during this decade; in fact, they played some gigs and mostly supported other acts of the genre that were releasing records in the eighties, like Pendragon, IQ, Twelfth Night, so whether they are actually part of the 'second' or 'third' generation of British prog rock could be debated.

As for the album itself, it is a decent collection of 80s-sounding prog rock, strongly influenced by Fish-era Marillion and Rush, which are certainly the major influences on the early Galahad sound, as well as Genesis and possibly Yes. And this is the drawback of 'Nothing Is Written' - it sounds like an album released by a Marillion protégé, not very original, not very breathtaking, making the record sound quite dated and a bit tedious, with mostly forgettable songs which is probably the reason why one will hardly find songs from this record on any Galahad live album.

Interestingly, I could also describe 'Nothing Is Written' as promising, as the band (with the line-up consisting of Stu Nicholson on vocals, Spencer Luckman on drums, Roy Keyworth on guitars, Tim Ashton on keyboards, and Tim Ashton on bass) display some very decent skills, especially the guitar player whose style might be reminiscent of Steve Hackett or Steve Rothery but is still intriguing. Stuart Nicholson's voice is not as strong as it can be later heard on the band's 21st century albums but it is still recognizable, with a slight Geddy Lee nod to it.

Some of the better songs on 'Nothing Is Written' include 'Face to the Sun', 'Chamber of Horrors', 'Aqaba' and 'Motherland' but the rest is very generic and stereotypical neo-progressive rock, making this album not too good overall. Promising, yes, but also too conventional, badly produced and poorly mixed.