Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Galahad
Label: Avalon Records
Release: 2014
Running time: 42:40
Rating: 4/5
The Brits in Galahad have always been one of neo-prog rock’s best-kept secrets, which is a roundabout way of saying they’re one of the best and at the same time most overlooked bands in the whole movement. Lately, though, people have been talking about them more, because the band has become unusually active and keeps wowing us with releases that are even better than what they put out at the start of their career. In 2012, Galahad dropped not one but two (very good) studio albums, »Battle Scars« and »The Realms Of Euphoria«, so they’re really on an incredible creative tear these past few years. Thanks to the extra progressive metal and electronics they’ve been working into their musical vocabulary, they’ve also caught the attention of some younger prog fans and even a few metalheads, even though these are veterans who started their march back in the eighties and rank among the genuine British neo-prog pioneers.
In 2014, Galahad, under the production baton of Karl Groom (Threshold, Shadowland), decided to pull an unusual move and release no fewer than four EPs in the same year. The first of them was »Seize The Day«, featuring three freshly reworked classics from the past. The title track, »Seize The Day«, got an interesting production makeover. It’s a phenomenally good piece that originally came out on »Battle Scars«, and this time Groom pushed the commercially tempting trance textures on the synths even further. They were already there on the original version. This EP has both the single and the full version of »Seize The Day«; both sound brilliant in their own way, and it’s no surprise the band loves this composition so much, since it’s probably the best thing on »Battle Scars« and one of the peaks of their whole career, bringing together all the best elements of this cult act.
»21st Century Painted Lady«, a pastoral-flavored hybrid with touches of a power ballad, is another splendid composition. It was originally written back in the eighties but only sees the light of day now. You can’t miss its roots, as the structure at times recalls something Fish-era Marillion could have come up with, though the electronic patterns on the synths give it a clearly modern frame. The instrumental version is a bit less interesting, since it lacks the charismatic vocal performance by Stuart Nicholson, although the individual pastoral-ambient elements come through more strongly there. The third re-recorded track is »Bug Eye«, which comes from the album »Following Ghosts« (1998). In its new performance and production it, almost predictably, sounds better than the original, which also goes for its live version, included on this EP too.
With »Seize The Day«, which is bound to please longtime fans as well as plenty of ‘newcomers’, Galahad have successfully opened the ‘season’ of four consecutive EPs that marked 2014. Apart from »21st Century Painted Lady«, it doesn’t bring anything we haven’t heard before, but as an EP with more than 40 minutes of music, it’s a really neat selection of newly interpreted tracks from three different eras of these English neo-prog greats, so their admirers surely won’t want to go without it, which is commendable as long as they pick it up for a reasonable price.
Lineup
Stuart Nicholson – vocals
Roy Keyworth – guitar
Spencer Luckman – drums
Neil Pepper – bass guitar
Dean Baker – keyboards
Production
Karl Groom
Track list
1. Seize the Day (Single version)
2. Seize the Day (Full version)
3. 21st Century Painted Lady
4. 21st Century Painted Lady (Instrumental)
5. Bug Eye 2013
6. Bug Eye (Live)
