Released by: Lion Music
Release Date: Out Now!!!
Genre: Melodic Epic Metal
Links: http://www.galahadsuite.com/
Line Up:
Linus Abrahamson – Guitar & Bass
Carl Lindquist – Vocals
Mats Bergentz – Drums
Sebastian Berglund – Keyboards
Anna Forsvall Lundmark – Cello
Evelina Andersson – Backing vocals
Ellen Abrahamson – Backing vocals
Mikael Cederhag – Backing vocals
Tracklist:
01.Galahad – The Hope
02. Somewhere – The Quest
03.Happy – The Incident
04.Hunted – The Decision
05.Morning Sun – The Battle
06. Loneliness – The Peace
07.Never Alone – The Victory
08. Coming Home – The Reward
09.Vision Divine – The End
10.Galahad – The Man
Galahad Suite is a project of former Mister Kite member Anton Johansson. He was born in 1960 and started playing piano when he was nine years old, guitar at 12 and bass at the age of 15. In the mid 90’s he founded a band Mister Kite with whom who he recorded 2 albums. In 2007 he joined forces with guitarist/bassist Linus Abrahamson (Andromeda, The Codex) to finish the long-time coming project The Galahad Suite. It also features an array of talented musicians including Carl Lindquist (vocals), Mats Bergentz (Drums), Sebastian Berglund (Keyboards), Anna Forsvall Lundmark (Cello) and backing vocal by Evelina Andersson, Ellen Abrahamson and Mikael Cederhag.
The album also boasts notable guest performances by guitarists Mattias IA Eklundh (Freak Kitchen, Freak Guitar), Ma gnus Karlsson (Midnight Sun, Primal Fear, Allen/Lande, Starbreaker), Jonas Hansson (Silver Mountain), Dennis Post (Star*Rats) and Magnus Kristensson (Mister Kite, Planet); along with keyboards by Jens Johansson (Stratovarius, Yngwie Malmsteen, Dio) and Lalle Larsson (Karmakanic, Agents of Mercy, Electrocution 250) and additional vocals by Alf Wemmenlind (Mister Kite, Fifty Grand Suicide).
I had no doubt with the immense amount of talent that they could create some great music.
The music is Melodic Progressive Metal/Rock Opera with strong Symphonic influences and elements of Hard Rock. It is not very Heavy and Aggressive but contains many beautiful melodies, decent synth works (maestro Jens Johansson performed some outstanding solos) and solid guitar work. Sometimes it reminds me of Royal Hunt and Rock Operas Genius and Ayreon.
It is obvious that the lyrics are dedicated to Sir Galahad’s quest for the Holy Grail.
There are 2 outstanding songs to my mind: catchy “Happy – The Incident” (even a small break in the middle could not hurt it) and mighty “Never Alone – The Victory”, both driven and powerful and have wonderful keyboard solos. “Hunted – The Decision” is a more Hard Rock-oriented mid-tempo song with the use of Hammond. “Morning Sun – The Battle” is a very good instrumental with heavy riffs and again I should highlight awesome keyboard work. The last my favorite is “Vision Divine – The End”, it is slow but very impressive music with fantastic guitar performance at the end. Cello is nicely used in half-acoustic ballad “Loneliness – The Peace” which is a reverence to Progressive Rock of 70’s. “Coming Home – The Reward” is the longest composition here, the first part is dynamic and the second is dark and atmospheric.
So we have a solid album with strong and varied tracks with a very good musical and vocal performance. And I should not forget to mention a flawless production and a perfect sound. Maybe some tracks could be more complicated and includes elements of Power Metal but I should not expect it in every album I listen to 😉 .
“Galahad Suite” would be a nice addition to CD collections of all Melodic Prog fans and it’s a pity that it is available only via digital download at Lion Music label. I hope it will be released on CD some time.
Written by Egor “EG Power”
Ratings Egor 8/10
About Author
