Review Summary: A new starting point to the band. A very eclectis work.
“Year Zero” is the seventh studio album of Galahad that was released in 2002. The line up on the album is Stuart Nicholson, Roy Keyworth, Dean Baker, Neil Pepper and Spencer Luckmann. The album had also the participation of Sarah Quilter, Rob Booth, John Wetton, Jonathan Prentice, Lorraine Rowan, Nicki Clewlow, Sabino Andreotti, Wai Lim Kay and Yun Hwa Son.
I admit that I’m not very familiar with the preceding albums of Galahad until this album. My only contact with that period was with their debut studio album “Nothing Is Written”. In 2003 there were question marks where Galahad wanted to go, but in the last decade it has clearly shown, and so we know today that Galahad have followed a very precise plan by giving their once classic neo-prog more and more alien stylistic features. This album represents a reborn of Galahad.
Galahad was formed in 1985, just for fun. In those times, they played half covers songs of Genesis, Led Zeppelin, Rush, Black Sabbath, Marillion, Focus, etc., and half of original material. Galahad then supported a few fairly very well known progressive rock bands, that were coming up at the time, including IQ, Marillion, Pendragon, Pallas, Haze and Magnum.
After more than thirty years, the band released more than thirty works, including sixteen studio albums, six live albums, a DVD and fourteen compilations, according to what I know. By the other hand, Galahad played hundreds of live gigs in the U.K., Europe and America all over the last years, and in many times, even in some very unusual and original venues.
Since their foundation until that date, they had only released six studio albums, six albums in seventeen years. But, “Year Zero” became a mark of change in their career. Their next studio album “Empires Never Last” took the band in a heavier and more muscular, guitar oriented direction. This more contemporary musical approach seems to have worked making of this work the band’s most successful album to date, both commercially and critically, and resulted that the album wins the title of “Album of the Year” at the Classic Rock Society awards, in 2007. In 2012 the band returned with two new studio albums “Battle Scars” and “Beyond The Realms Of Euphoria” that became two new great albums. In reality, the band confirmed their position as a great British prog act also with their last studio releases in the last years.
“Year Zero” is a conceptual album with about one hour of music. The album is performed as only a single piece and is the most instrumental oriented album that Galahad has recorded in their career. It’s divided into fifteen parts, including songs and instrumentals. Some pieces are integrated, like instrumental segments, and others are just mixed together. This, and the fact that some themes are returning, give to it a strong feeling and turning it in a true prog rock album.
As we would expect with a Galahad’s release, especially the last ones, “Year Zero” contains a myriad of musical styles including classical, baroque, jazz interludes, a heavy psych musical section incorporating techno beats and industrial grooves as well as the usual traditional sound of the progressive music and heavy rock, punctuated by some quieter and more sensitive passages before the album reaches a grand and rousing choral crescendo finishing it, supported by the Cantori Catholic Choir. The vocal harmonies are one of the main features that Galahad uses to create great effects.
So, “Year Zero” is their first conceptual album, with only one piece of music broken down into fifteen digestible chunks, to make it easier for CD’s, and they had clearly spread their musical wings. In fact, it takes until nearly halfway through the second track of the album to become recognisable as a Galahad’s album, as they are using the talents of Dean Baker on keyboards to take the music in a new direction. He really brought great many new sounds and effects to the band. Some of them sound more like Hawkwind or Ozric Tentacles than like Genesis. But, when Stu starts singing, soon becomes clear this is the old band with a lot of new ideas, which even allowed for John Wetton to sing a few lead lines, which certainly confuses the ears. He’s quite different of Stuart Nicholson but he was trying to sing in Stu’s style.
Conclusion: “Year Zero” isn’t an album easily digested on the first listenings. It requires many listenings to can fully appreciate. The band has been called promising for a long time. This new release is a very strong musical statement and proves that the band is very much alive. Their earlier Marillion’s influences are almost completely gone. The music is a powerful mix of the traditional and more recent rock styles and it sound is quite more modern with the music basically concentrated on the moods and melodies, without overly too long instrumental parts. The audio quality is also very good. With “Year Zero” Galahad made a terrific album and finally they did a huge step into the future of their music. I’m sure this album will already features in the musical collection of many fans of the band, but for those unsure, or unfamiliar with the music of Galahad, this would make a worthy introduction. “Year Zero” continues growing on me.
Music was my first love.
John Miles (Rebel)
