Released by: Indie
Release Date: October 20th, 2023
Genre: Prog Rock
Links: https://www.galahadonline.com/
Line Up:
Stu Nicholson
Lee Abraham
Dean Baker
Mark Spencer
Spencer Luckman
Tracklist:
1. Behind The Veil Of A Smile
2. Everything’s Changed
3. Shadow In The Corner
4. The Righteous And The Damned
5. The Long Goodbye
6. Darker Days
7. Open Water
For almost 40 years the legendary UK band GALAHAD have been a very popular progrockband, and despite only lead singer STUART NICHOLSON is left from the first line up, GALAHAD is still alive and well. The Long Goodbye is their 12th album, and it was recorded at various locations over the last couple of years, while once again KARL GROOM of THRESHOLD fame edited, mixed and mastered the record.
The sound is massive and with a crystal clear top-notch production, this is definitely a modern sounding, yet classic prog influenced album, and perhaps it might be GALAHAD’s finest release so far! After the midtempo prog rocking opener Behind The Veil Of A Smile, things get very sensational during the uptempo AOR chorus driven symphonic rocker Everything’s Changed that feels a bit like ASIA crossed with IT BITES, ARENA and PALLAS. Following Shadow In The Corner is another sensational song, featuring a strong catchy chorus and a fantastic soaring guitar solo, this is another energetic uptempo progressive rocking tune.
The Righteous And The Damned starts very original with a sorta theatrical/old cinema/Montmartre kinda feeling, yet after a few minutes it dives once again into massive sounding melodic progressive hardrocker with some twists during the song, here and there reminding of SAGA and RUSH. The titletrack The Long Goodbye starts calm and piano-led in a FISH style, but develops into a blockbusting 13 minutes counting epic prog piece (which has an amazing JOURNEYesque guitar solo towards the end!). The CD version of the new album contains 2 bonustracks (the excellent Darker Days and Open Water), which are also both great progrocking pieces.
Concluded, GALAHAD returns with a wonderful new album that will be loved by fans of the band for sure, but also if you’re not familiar with the band’s material, then this is definitely a good start, because The Long Goodbye is one of the finest prog albums of 2023!
Written by: Gabor Kleinbloesem
Ratings: Gabor 8/10
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