Of course, I have a couple of Galahad albums in my record/CD collection, but I have never reviewed one, so it was an immense pleasure to listen to and review Galahad's 11th studio album The Last Great Adventurer. Their latest prog rock gem pre-dates the previous album from 2018 as the songs took long to compose and make, but the result is stunning as the seven songs (actually five and two bonus tracks) all sound absolutely stunning indeed! Alive opens this album and it features a dazzling chorus and of course the two trademarks of Galahad, Stu Nicholson's impressive vocals and Lee Abraham's guitar parts, are pretty dominant here, making this a 100% pure classic Galahad track and a future live staple for sure! Follow up Omega Lights, clocking in over the ten minutes mark features a formidable instrumental section at the end of this track. Blood, Skin, and Bone, one of my favs on the album, again has a very addictive and amazing chorus and the groove played by drummer Spencer Luckman and bass guitarist Mark Spencer is furious and infectious as bloody hell; furthermore Abraham's guitar solo here is almost out of this world, making Blood, Skin, and Bone one of the best prog rock song of the year 2022! The title track is a personal tribute to Nicholson's father, who was part of the crew of mountain climbers of the Grossglockner and The Wildspitze, the two highest peaks in the Austrian Alps, by the way... Musically this title track even features a couple of bluesy elements and some beautiful moderate vocal parts, but the highlight in this spectacular song is the soaring guitar solo. The two “bonus tracks” are also of an extremely high musical level, as Normality Of Distance, again a wonderful chorus here, is a catchy prog rock song, while Another Life Not Lived is a melancholic and lyrically sad song. Overall, one can say that all the seven tracks are indeed well composed and extraordinarily well executed, making Galahad still one of the most underrated prog rock bands in the modern music scene and The Last Great Adventurer one of the musical peaks/ highlights of 2022. A must have albums for all prog rock aficionados indeed! ****+ Martien Koolen (edited by Tracy van Os van den Abeelen) Where to buy? |
