Battle Scars

Before picking up the CD "Battle Scars" I'd never heard of the band Galahad. It could be because the band has yet ot have a major record deal or it could be that they're a UK band, either way this was my first experience of listening to this English rock progressive band. In fact I had to do a little searching on the net to find out that Galahad is a UK band that has had a lot of members since forming in 1985, 20 in fact, 4 current and 16 past members.
When the first track, "Battle Scars" played, I was caught by surprise because I was not expecting to be hearing a song that sounded like the theme song for Dracula. If ever there was a vampire song "Battle Scars" would be it. With the dark, low key, near whisper of vocals by Stuart Nicholson, the title track's first minutes of playing was almost a teaser for what was coming next. With not knowing anything about this band I expected the whole song and album to be of similar sound but just over 3 minutes in the songs the lyrics kicked in and so did the quicker pacing of the instruments. At first I didn't like the way the lyrics where being sung nor the lack of them. Stuart Nicholson repeats the tracks title, "Battle Scars" over and over during the second half of the song making it old and a little annoying very quickly.
It took me around 5 times of listening to this album before I could start to really get a grasp on the music that's being played. One song is played like a grudge rock song while the next has an electronic rock beat with a foreboding undertone. There are so many different sounds being played in these songs that I couldn't really get a grasp on the style, which I actually liked in this case. Galahad is not a band that’s members are trying to play in their way while not trying to work together. Instead they have created songs that blend all these different beats, rhythms, and instruments into songs that assault the ears. This band has created a CD that's different from what I've been hearing and making it sound good. There are some fun riffs being played in front of the thumping drums that I enjoyed listening to.