Review Summary: One of the best neo-prog albums. I hope they don’t crumble and fall.
“Empires Never Last” is the eighth studio album of Galahad and was released in 2007. The line up on the album is Stuart Nicholson, Roy Keyworth, Dean Baker, Lee Abraham and Spencer Luckmann. The album had also the participation of Karl Groom, Clive Nolan, Tina Booth, Tina Groom and Sarah Quilter.
Galahad is an English progressive rock band formed in 1985, just after the so called second wave of “Prog” bands in UK like Marillion, Pallas, IQ, Twelfth Night and Pendragon, that came to the fore in the early 80’s, in alternative to the arise of the punk rock movement. However, while the other bands began between 1978 and 1981, and took this matter seriously, Galahad never paid much attention to it until 1990. In the beginning they only played for fun, a mixture of covers of Genesis, Led Zeppelin, Rush, Black Sabbath, Focus, Marillion etc., in order to get gigs and original material.
So, after mixing with the slightly “bigger boys” such as IQ, Pendragon and Magnum, Galahad decided playing only their original material and then they also decided to release their first debut proper album in 1991, “Nothing Is Written”. All over the years, between 1991 and 2002, Galahad have gone on to play in hundreds of shows all over the UK, Europe and America releasing more six studio albums but without a great notoriety and even less commercial success.
However, everything has changed with the release of their next studio album, “Empires Never Last”. Through this album, Galahad invited the contribution of Karl Groom, the guitarist of Threshold, on some additional guitar work. Karl is a very well known British guitarist and record producer, but he his best known as a founding member of the progressive metal band Threshold. Anyway, he also played guitar in other bands like Mercy Train, Shadowland and Strangers On A Train. As a producer, he is mostly known for metal styles production of various bands like his own band Threshold and Dragon Force. But, he worked with other prog acts including Yes, Pendragon and John Wetton.
So, no wonder that the album has some flavour of progressive metal, especially in the use of guitar riffs. The final sound of the album is much heavier than the sound of their previous studio albums. In reality, their last three studio albums “Empire Never Last”, “Battle Scars” and “Beyond The Realms Of Euphoria” have taken them towards heavier, with more muscular guitar orientated direction combined with the liberal use of sequencers and more groove/dance orientated beats creating a unique modern sound whilst retaining very occasional nods to their more “progressive” past roots. The end result is fresh, clean and cutting. I even dare to say that it has a new commercial sound of the band.
The album goes a Capella starting with classical sounding vocals of the guest female vocal trio, after Nicholson brutally sings “De-Fi-Ance”. The new solid sound of Galahad is further shaped by the spicy “Termination”, with guitar riffs that reminds Threshold. The vocals of Stuart Nicholson, with its huge range, and previously mentioned ladies trio is of high quality. Central to the album is the fourteen-minute “I Could Be God”. Quick repetitive test, rumbling drums and fierce guitar riffs give to the song a totally unique opening. The vocals of Nicholson exhibit strong similarities with Fish in his best days of the early days of Marillion. Parts of the famous “I Have A Dream” speech of the Rev. Martin Luther King are integrated into the song. After almost fourteen minutes he makes a chilling scream ending the song. Also “Sidewinder” reminds Threshold. It’s also a relatively flat track with a catchy melody, which Groom, as well as the instrumental “Memories From An African Twin”, takes a guitar solo on his behalf. “Empires Never Last” has a wonderfully long and up climax rhythmic intro, completed with a bass riff and driving drums. Nicholson is a great singer and he proves by his calm and then aggressive way of singing, not at all bothered by the violent eruptions on guitar. The melancholic track “This Life Could Be My Last Life” is another excellent track. It’s very pleasant, beautiful and melodic, a fine rock ballad with hard rocking guitar riffs, in the same mood of the rest of the album. This is a fitting closing track to this great work.
Conclusion: “Empires Never Last” is a very strong album, perfectly balanced and superiorly produced and doesn’t have any disappointing part or weak track. It remains as one of the best neo-prog albums. With this album Galahad arrived at their zenith. It holds a variety of pleasures throughout it. It’s an angry album, in places very sarcastic, full of emotion and drama. Lovers of old Fish fronted Marillion will drink this album down with a great deal of pleasure. It isn’t, by any means, a copy of the old Marillion. However, it’s in the same style with a little more emphasis on keyboards and guitars. It has a more modern sound which is sometimes close to metal. It will probably have something to do with the contribution of the excellent guitarist and producer Karl Groom. Finally, a reference to the performance of the band’s keyboardist. The more I listen, the more I’m impressed with Dean Baker’s tricky keyboard/synthesizer contributions.
Music was my first love.
John Miles (Rebel)
