Never a band to stand still or afraid to look to their past, with this bold endeavour Galahad have delivered one of their defining statements.
No matter where you turn, politics has taken on a new domination in people's minds. Leave? Remain? Trump? Lines have been drawn, barricades built, conclusions created and arguments hurled as abuse... and this is only the political classes. Here in Great Britain – a name beginning to feel like an oxymoron – it's all about the "B-word", and it's that Brexit nettle that Galahad are grasping – the searing pain of the sting being transferred into anger – on 'Seas Of Change'.
If you're looking for debate you won't find it here. Stuart Nicholson's lyrics are biting, acerbic, anti-government and anti-Brexit. Yet across the single forty-two minute song this album contains, the charismatic singer delves deeper. Yes, he's pissed off about (in his opinion that's being voiced here) the close-minded, self-destruction button his nation appears to have pressed, but Galahad are not here to judge the masses. They're here to shine a light on the UK's broken, unfit, self-absorbed and redundant political system. You may, or may not, agree with the political starting point of 'Seas Of Change', but disagreeing with its killer observations... well, that's a much more difficult proposition.
Musically, the whole song/album was written, orchestrated and arranged by keyboard player Dean Baker, and it's an astounding achievement. There's a vast amount to fully take in, but how Baker has combined many of the eclectic sides of Galahad into one cohesive whole is quite breathtaking. With the band welcoming back Lee Abraham – their bassist of old, formulating an acclaimed solo career in between tenures – but this time on guitars, don't get the impression that 'Seas Of Change' is the plaything of just the keyboard maestro and man behind the mic as nothing could be further from the truth.
The snarling guitars that have come to the fore on more recent Galahad releases are often the driving force behind much of the startlingly, captivating Progressive Rock on display. With the guest flute of Sarah Bolter also leading on occasion, the early pastoral style this band purveyed is also back in evidence. However, with sound clips, newscasts and scene-setting sounds also adding to the conceptual feel, the deeper you dig, the more the album repays your faith.
Never a band to stand still or afraid to look to their past, with this bold endeavour Galahad have delivered one of their defining statements. It's also one that's sure to outlast the short-sighted politics that fuelled it... I hope.
Steven Reid
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