Customer Reviews

Beat the Drum

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Imagine Vangelis with lyrics including progressive and metal elements. What a wonderful mixture giving an atmospheric sound.

Softeness of the singing really attracted me on this album, it is so controlled (voice is a criss-cross of Mark Hollis and Demis Roussos almost).

Can't decide which is my favorite song. Is it "Fragment of the sun", "Beat the drum","all or nothing","hide and seek","spirits" or "ghosts"? I'll leave it to my mood of the day. Excellent purchase.

I never had heard any material of Pallas before and just stumbled into this band listening to different recommendations in sympho-rock at my favourite CD-store.I was in for a nice surprise and immediately bought this album. Call to Arms opens the album. It's a powerful rock track with a nice break. A good but rather straightforward track. Beat the Drum is one of the best tracks on the album. This song has a wonderful quiet opening with just piano, string keyboards and vocals. After two and a half minutes a powerful second half starts. The title track features a very powerful bass line and good melodies. A thunderous drum sequence gives the finishing touch. Hide and Seek is a very accessible up tempo song with a catchy melody. Insomniac starts with spooky keyboard and sound effects. Very atmospheric. The powerful second half is based around the bass and guitar riffs. After various tempo and theme changes the song ends with a computerized voice. All or Nothing : another straightforward rock tune with a chunking bass and good use of backing vocals. Spirits starts as a quiet ballad with vocals and keyboard effects, accompanied by wonderful percussion. The climax of the song is very majestic and features bagpipe samples and snare drums playing a march rhythm. Man of Principle is a poppy up tempo song with a catchy melody. Ghosts starts with vocals and keyboard effects. Bass and percussion join in after a while and soon the tempo increases and the song gets a more grungy rock feel, with some wonderful riffs. Blood and Roses is a beautiful ballad. Halfway through the song a string arrangements comes in. The song ends with the whole band playing and a beautiful guitar solo. Wilderness Years ; the first part has a slow rhythm and the backing vocals make this sound like a military marching song, with some nice guitar solos in the rest of the song. Fragments of the Sun ; what can I say, just a perfect closing of a great album. The album has a perfect alternation between more commercial rock tunes and atmospheric symphonic progressive highlights. This is definitely a great piece of work !

They kept me waiting for more than a decade... and at last here it is: A truly "progressive" album! If you like "Knightmoves to Wedge," you should order it now. If you still love "The Sentinel" better, try this latest one, which clearly shows what Pallas really are. If you have never heard of Pallas and if you love intelligent rock music with thoughtful lyrics, haunting melody and tight ensemble, this is YOUR album. Highly recommended in every way!

I just received this cd, and "Beat the Drum" was recorded 2 years earlier than the Cross. It consists of much less progressive rock, but has many good themes. I miss the prog, but still is good. Pallas returned to prog with The Cross and the Crucible." The keys and the guitars set up songs differently each song. So they aren't the consistently the same type of song. It still is good rock with a couple of unusual topics. A plus for Pallas.

I did not like this disc. I just listened to some samples and went on with my shopping. For some reason, this disc was ordered and I sent it back.

After some limited success in the early 80's Pallas went on hiatus for more than a decade. In 1998 the band re-formed with new vocalist and front man Alan Reed and the modern day version of Pallas was introduced with this album. This is a good, but not great Pallas album in my opinion. Reed is a very good vocalist and fits in well with the rest of the band. The music would probably be classified as neo-prog with songs mostly on the shorter side, with quite a pop nod to most of it. There is some very nice guitar work to be found here and they keys are all over the place. The lyrics get a bit weighty tackling social and political themes at times. Highlights include "Insomniac", "Fragments Of The Sun", "Beat The Drum", and "Ghosts". Overall this is a very nice reunion album from Pallas, although I think they would get better with later releases.

Maybe not as strong an effort as some of their other releases but still great. Insomniac is an excellent prog rocker. Fragments of the Sun is a beautiful composition. Great music, good singing make this a cd to enjoy.

This is a group of progressive rock of the 80'. They have two albums before: The sentinel and Knightmoves..not very goods. Beat the Drum is a masterpiece, one the bests albums of Progressive in 1999, the best that I have listened since "The Visitor" of Arena. Very recommendable to people. that like Yes, Genesis, Saga, Rush, Pink Floyd, ELP, Arena, Pendragon and IQ (in other words, the real good music). Rate: 9.0