Scottish prog rockers Pallas have announced that they will release their brand new album The Messenger, their first since Alan Reed announced that he had rejoined the band earlier this year, on December 15. You can watch a video trailer for the new album below.
The new album reunites Reed with bassist Graeme Murray and guitarist Niall Matthewson, two fifths of the line-up that recorded 1986's The Wedge album (Reed's debut with Pallas), while keyboard player Ronnie Brown joined in time for 1999's Beat The Drum. There has been no comment on the position of recent drummer Colin Fraser but he does not appear in the band's new press pictures.
"I thought I’d finally got Pallas out of my system, says Reed, who left the band in 2010 (replaced by singer Paul Mackie who sang on XXV (2011), Wearewhowerae (2014) and The Edge Of Time (2019)). "We hadn’t spoken in a very long time. But I heard this music at a fairly early stage, and knew there was a very special album here. So - not to put too fine a point on it - I rejoined! I can’t wait for people to hear what we’ve been up to. It’s a musical event which I’m so proud to be a part of."
"Where The Sentinel echoed the concerns of the cold war and the shadows it cast on all of us, The Messenger finds the band reacting to the existential threats to the world we find ourselves in," the band add of the new album. "From what we’ve done to the world, to the politics that shape it.
"The album encapsulates a spectrum of emotions, blending darkness with optimism, robust rock melodies with moments of introspection and marvel. It rocks out, yet has moments of tenderness and wonder."
The Messenger will be available as a limited edition digibook, on CD and as a digital album.
