The Bathtub of Adventures

PALLAS

'The Cross & The Crucible'

Tracklist:
1. The Big Bang
2. The Cross & The Crucible
3. For The Greater Glory
4. Who's To Blame?
5. The Blinding Darkness
6. Towers Of Babble
7. Generations
8. Midas Touch
9. Celebration!

Musicians:
Alan Reed - vocals
Niall Matthewson - guitars
Graeme Murray - bass
Ronnie Brown - keyboards
Colin Fraser - drums

Additional musicians:
Gill Main, Claire Bleasdale, Laura Sinclair, Trevor Gray and Alistair Taylor - incantations
Laura Harrow - voice of conscience
Bob Anderson - WWI whistle

Home page: http://www.dprp.vuurwerk.nl/bands/pallas/

Last year on this site, I ended a long article about Pallas and 'The Sentinel' with this paragraph:

"The latest release, 1999's 'Beat The Drum' is so 'safe' it just sounds like comfortable middle-aged prog for and by comfortable middle-aged men. Perhaps that's what Pallas have become. I hope to be proved wrong."

I used to love this band in the early 80's when it was a toss-up between them and Marillion as to who would first break big and lead the Neo movement. Their first two albums, 'Arrive Alive' and 'The Sentinel', are now rightly regarded as Prog classics, but the departure of their original front man (Euan Lowson) saw the band lose some of their progressive spark and head towards a more mainstream rock sound. After a reasonable EP (Knightmoves) but a disappointing album (The Wedge), the band were dropped by EMI, which eventually led to a lengthy break-up (13 years!). In 1999 the band returned with a new self-produced, but mediocre, album - the aforementioned 'Beat The Drum'.

In 2000 Pallas signed to Inside Out, a label that now seems to have become the home of Prog. The band's whole back catalogue was remastered and re-released with the early classics of 'Arrive Alive' and 'The Sentinel' particularly finding favour with both the old and the new Prog audience.

So what are we to make of this new album? If you have read their WebPages you will already know that they have been promising a return to their Prog roots, and thoroughly in keeping with that, the new album is an hour-long concept piece. A concept that seems to be based on the band looking back at "the wonders, achievements and the atrocities that mark this point in time at the start of the third millennium", and the rise of man against the background of religion, and religion's gradual replacement by science. Each track is like a postcard from a particular viewpoint in time (there is much longer and better explanation on their website).

The one thing I have always admired about Pallas, but thought they had lost, was their command of atmosphere and dramatics - you would have to look back to the early Enid albums to find similar British Prog Rock mastery. In the opening track (The Big Bang), keyboardist Ronnie Brown and the guest 'Gothic choir' begin our journey from the void at the dawn of time. Everything is so understated; in fact when I first heard this album, whilst driving, I thought there was something wrong with the CD - the opening few minutes are just so quiet. So it was on with the headphones for the rest of this review.

Continuing with the atmospherics, it's not until five minutes into the album that Pallas let rip. The driving bass work of Graeme Murray, so reminiscent of Geddy Lee (maybe more to do with the Rickenbacker sound than anything else), pushes the album firmly forward into the 'Sentinel' territory of old. From the vocals to the long instrumental passages, Pallas have regained their dramatic voice.

Returning to last year's article, I am very glad to say I have been proved completely wrong. The Cross & The Crucible is a stunning return to their heyday. Put simply, it's Rush meets Yes via The Enid, and finally a worthy successor to 'The Sentinel'. Great vocals, dynamic, dramatic instrumentals - Pallas have returned with a vengeance.

If this had been released in 1984 as the follow-up to The Sentinel, I'm sure Neo-Prog history would have been very different. However, whether this album, with its sound so firmly rooted in the 80's Neo movement, is fresh enough for Pallas to take their rightful place within Prog's hierarchy, remains to be seen. It's a great album, but perhaps 16 years too late. But nonetheless, it's first class 'Neo Prog' and they should be justly proud of it. For the 'Prog' fraternity out there, highly recommended.

Ian Oakley July 2001

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