Pallas - The Sentinel - 1984 (24/96 Vinyl Rip)

The Sentinel was the first studio album by Pallas and was released in 1984. It was produced by Eddy Offord, known for his work with Yes and ELP. This album is considered one of the classics that emerged from the neo-prog era of the early eighties with contemporaries such as Marillion and IQ.

Some comprehensive reviews of the CD can be found on the Dutch Progressive Rock Pages. It should be noted however that the LP is different in sound, tracks and track order. The first CD of this album was issued in 1992 (Centaur Discs CENCD 001) and was in fact a remix. It was re-issued in 2004 by SPV/Inside Out Music (IOMCD058) with some added CD-Rom content containing video footage. The most noticeable differences between the LP and CD are the reverb on the vocals and the louder mix of drums and bass on some of the tracks. The CD is also brighter sounding and mastered with quite some compression. As for the track differences between the CD and the LP: the CD includes some additional tracks the band had written that were part of the so-called Atlantis suite. On the CD these tracks are placed in chronological/story order which makes it different from the original LP.

My preference for the sound and original mix of the LP and the much better dynamics were the main reasons to do a vinyl rip of this album. If you look at the Dynamic Range analysis you will see that the LP has 4 dB more dynamic range compared to the CD.

This year Pallas released a new album XXV which is kind of a sequel to The Sentinel. Check out their website for more information and sound samples. For vinyl lovers: XXV is also released on vinyl, more details are here.

Track Listing
All tracks written by Pallas

Side One
1. "Arrive Alive" - 4:15
2. "Cut and Run" - 5:06
3. "Rise and Fall" - 10:05

Side Two
4. "Shock Treatment" - 4:28
5. "Ark of Infinity" - 7:11
6. "Atlantis" - 8:10