A L B U M  R E V I E W

This review of Year Zero by Artur Chacklowski appeared in the September 2002 issue of the Polish magazine Metal Hammer. It's been kindly translated for Room 801 by Anna Wheelhouse of Bournemouth.

The official date of release of this record is 23 September 2002. However, as we are old mates, Stuart Nicholson (vocals) sent me a copy of the final version of 'Year Zero' approximately three months ago. It arrived during the first days of the World Cup and I blame football mania for not allowing me to concentrate on listening to the music properly. At first I was not keen on 'Year Zero' at all. For a good while I thought it was too shocking, controversial and not quite clear at where it was coming from. It is totally different to previous Galahad records. There are no single tracks on 'Year Zero' - the album is a one continuous multi-part track. There are lots of elements of ambient music too which does require a bit of getting used to. It is not a 'progressive' record either, not in a traditional sense of the word anyway.

But Galahad are a searching and experimenting band, and 'Year Zero' proves it very well. I am still not sure whether it was because the World Cup was over or may be simply because it was summertime, but suddenly I was able to devote far more time to listening to the new record, and suddenly I could not stop listening to Galahad's new creation. It truly is a wonderful, mysterious and intriguing record. Well thought through, beautiful and different. It contains fabulous music themes; check the fragment called 'Hindsight' .That is a real gem! Hit of the year? Decade? Band's top achievement? I do not know but watch this space......

It is a fantastic album, containing absolutely great music. Give it some time and you will see that you will not be able to eject this disc out of your system for a while.

[Artur went on to give the CD a highest possible rating of '5'.]