Band: Pallas

CD Title: “XXV”

Label: Music Theories Recording

Label Website: www.mascotlabelgroup.com

Release Date: 2001

Most of you will already know that Pallas were one of the big six progressive rock bands that came to the fore in the early eighties. They were part of the group that included Marillion, IQ, Pendragon and others who were consciously making an effort to put Progressive Rock music back into the media consciousness. Unfortunately Pallas’ world unraveled by 1986 and they became a footnote in the prog history. When they reunited in 1999 to release Beat the Drum, it was the start of a long and arduous path to reconnect with fans. Now after a number of successful recordings the band, with new lead vocalist Paul Mackie has delivered perhaps their most anticipated recording; the sequel to their best selling The Sentinel simply entitled XXV. Talk about a tough act to follow.

First off it must be stated, XXV does actually “sound” quite a bit different from The Sentinel, but different in a way that’s very difficult to put into words. It’s a bit heavier that’s probably noticeable right off the bat, and certainly Mackie’s vocals bring a somewhat different tone to the proceedings as well. I guess the other thing is there’s a lot of music here with the CD format, we’re treated to almost double the minutes originally available on the vinyl; as a result the overall emotional investment changes. I would suggest the first track “Falling Down” [7:29] is the one that most closely resembles the earlier material, featuring some of the same chord climaxes and musical motifs. It must be said that many of the expected Pallas signature sounds are sprinkled throughout the disc; the choirs, the strings, the horns, the distinctive Rickenbacker bass, plenty of electric guitars, the huge epic crescendos…it’s their distinctive heavy symphonic progressive rock and it’s great. However, to my ears there weren’t quite as many memorable melody lines included in this set of songs, perhaps because they were going for a heavier sound, some of those melodies got lost in the translation. It could also be that one needs to spend more time with the disc. There are a total of 11-tracks here and half of them fall into 6-minute plus range. After it’s all said and done there’s a lot of music here.

Call it nostalgia if you like, but Pallas remains a band near and dear to my musical heart. I’m pleased they’ve chosen to give us this sequel, even if it didn’t generate the same excitement The Sentinel did. That was a different time. The version of XXV I have comes with a special DVD disc that includes four live performances and lots of photos. All in all – recommended!