01	Lagada						08:59
	02	Virginal						02:33
	03	To Die In Avalon						10:06
	04	Limiar (Winter's Request)						01:35
	05	Landhal's Cross						20:18
	06	Summit - Intro						00:40
	07	Summit						11:30
	08	Nunca De Noche						03:12

Galadriel - Muttered Promises From An Ageless Pond

Released: 1988
Label: Musea
Cat. No.: FGBG 4020.AR
Total Time: 55:53


Reviewed by: Stephanie Sollow, October 1999
A look at another CD that has been kicking around my collection for quite awhile:

Galadriel are another in a long line of progressive rock groups with a Tolkien-inspired moniker - though Galadriel actually acquired it from a band that had split.

Their sounds is classically influence with dashes of Yes, Genesis and Marillion. The Genesis influence is obvious by the Wind And Wuthering-like cover: cold and grey in its starkness.

Vocalist Jesus Filardi is the focal point of Galadriel, as most of the music and lyrics are written or co-written by him - his voice is often like Jon Anderson's - high and tight - though his delivery isn't like Anderson's.

The music is highly composed, lush, and beautifully played. The opening track "Lagada," for instance, is light and delicate, yet strong - like a lattice, actually.

The other spot where the Genesis influence comes through is in the heavy keyboard figures and textures. In fact, in a lot of ways, Galadriel bears similarities to other Eurpoean neo-progressives - Galadriel are from Spain.

The blend of electric and acoustic give this a warmth that makes for very enjoyable listening, though I have to admit that I didn't cotton on to this right away, expecting more of a Fish/Gabriel influence in the vocals. To be sure, there are moments when Filardi lowers his register and delivers lines like the Fish of early Marillion - during "To Die In Avalon" occurs just such a moment, even down to word choice: "Eternally condemed to obscurity" (which recalls "Milo" from Misplaced Childhood (which isn't to suggest either plagiarism or that those words alone constitute a Fish influence; phrasing the words with a hint of a Scottish brogue does, however, suggest the latter)).

But, without getting too hung up on the whole "influence" thing, this album holds enough attention, contains enough dynamics of sound and texture, to move beyond any pretense of trying to mimic any one band or sound.

Like nearly all Musea releases (or re-releases) this album comes with liner notes, detailing Galadriel's history. Although the booklet also includes some supportive text for the songs, the lyrics aren't reprinted. That is left to an additional sheet, where the lyrics appear in both English (as they're sung) and in Spanish. For economy's sake, the text is printed rather small, which makes it difficult to read, and the track names aren't really clearly discerned. But hey, that's the only drawback and magnifying glasses are cheap enough.

Well, those who know me, know that I have a strong affection for things Arthurian - and I've mentioned a few times in these reviews. So...yeh, "Avalon," is my favourite track here - but not just because of that. The other epic track is the 20-plus minute "Landahl's Cross," a story told in five parts. There is a great medieval feel to this album thematically, as the main character undertakes a journey - a quest.

Anyway, I'll leave that for you to discover. But for one vocal effect that I rather dislike, this is a great album and worth seeking out.

More about Muttered Promises From An Ageless Pond:

Track Listing: The Day Before The Harvest: Lagada (8:30) / Virginal (2:26) / To Die In Avalon (10:00) / The Year of The Dream: Limiar (Winter's Request) (1:26) / Landahl's Cross (20:04) / Summit (11:27) / Nunca De Noche (2:20)

Musicians:
Manolo Macia - guitars
Manolo Pancorbo - guitars and bass
David Aladro - keyboards
Cidon Trindade - drums and percussion
Jesus Filardi - vocals and percussion
Alfredo Garcia - violin (#1)
Pablo Molina - bass (#5, #6)
Angel Romero - backing vocals and percussion (#5)

Contact:


Website: members.easyspace.com/mindscaper/
Note: will open new browser window

Email: mindscaper@arrakis.es

Discography

Muttered Promises From An Ageless Pond (1988)
Chasing The Dragonfly (1992)
Mindscapers (1997)




Submitted by Aurelio Vergara

Galadriel [Spain]

Muttered Promises From An Ageless Pond (88), Chasing The Dragonfly (92)

Very similar in sound to Yes, yet adding something different as a whole. The first cut on Muttered Promises... does sound like an outtake from Fragile with pseudo Wakeman moog riffs and a guitarist who sounds like a 50/50 combo of Howe and Hackett, yet after this, they tend to start developing an identity of their own, although quite derivative.
Many people compare this band to Yes, however they seem to this listener to have the feel of Marillion and Twelfth Night (Geoff Mann version). However unlike either of those two bands nothing tends to really jump out at you.
Galadriel's sound is a rich blend of the dramatic complex melodic progressive, containing many subtleties and submodals, along with symphonic tendencies and a strong folk influence; Vocalist Jesus Filardi may elicit comparison to Yes' Jon Anderson, but there are few similarities between the two bands beyond that. Their music is more in the vein of the classic italian progressive sound (like Early PFM, for example). Their second album shows the band branching out into some new directions, taking influence from Jazz, world music and other areas. Start with the second album Chasing The Dragonfly.
Chasing The Dragonfly is the second release by the Spanish progressive rock band, whose brand of mellow progressive rock is very much reminiscent of the pleasant, unhurried, melodic style of Italian prog bands from the mid seventies, such as PFM. Galadriel have a strong guitarist, and the acoustic and electric guitar is more prominent than on most releases of the genre. The vocalist also has a high edge to his voice that recalls Jon Anderson at times. The combination, in the context of lush keyboards (there are three keyboardists in the band) and with contributions from a violinist works very well in generating high quality, melodic progressive rock. There seem to be an unusual number of releases in the progressive rock arena in which the last track is the lengthiest, and this one is no exception, with a 6-part suite that just falls short of 19 minutes.
While supposedly light years better than their first album, Muttered Promises..., Chasing the Dragonfly, the 2nd album from this Spanish band, combines ethnic flavors with a very mundane neo-prog style for an overall sound that is unique, but not much else. The vocalist has a high pitched voice similar to Jon Anderson, but his lyrics and vocal stylings are totally laced with Fish-isms. While his voice is clear, his range is narrow and he lacks any real emotion or passion. The rest of the band perform adequately, but when the music dictates a difficult line or solo, the band has to call in some "extra" musicians. It's actually quite funny that none of the best solos on this album are played by any one of the 5 core members. As far as song writing goes, this is totally Cut and Paste style prog. Just a bunch of short tidbits completely strung together with no overal focus or objective. While the recording and production are remarkably well done, Galadriel is basically Prog-Lite. Those looking for some powerful and grandiose music should look elsewhere. The last long track takes literally half of a day to get going. The best songs on this album are the 2 instrumentals because they are short enough to have some coherence and they also contain the strongest melodies from the album. Better than a lot of neo-prog, but this is still a mediocre release at best. (It *is* possible, imho, to release a neo-prog album that *is* outstanding, but very few of the neo bands can do it).

Muttered Promises from an Ageless Pond is, umm, very strongly inspired by Yes. The singer sounds a bit like a depressed Jon Anderson. The rest of the band ranges from sounding like Howe/Wakeman to Hackett/Banks. The music is very boring. There are no dynamics and no energy. They honestly sound like they'd rather be sleeping. After listening to this, I *am* sleeping. Chasing The Dragonfly is said to be much better and more original. I hope so-it can't get much worse.

The current line-up of Galadriel (as of December 2002), after many personnel changes during the years, is down to only Jesus Filardi (vocals and keyboards) and Jose Bautista (Warr guitar, bass, keyboards and backing vocals). They were working on a fourth album as of September 2000, but so far no word on it. -- Fred Trafton

Links
Click here for Galadriel's web site http://www.galadrielmusic.com/
Click here to order Galadriel titles from Musea Records




Galadriel

From:
Madrid

Musicians:
Jesus Filardi (voice and keys),
Manolo Macia (guitar) (by Manolo Pancorbo, Nacho Serrano),
Oscar Perez (drums) (by Cidon Tindrade, Renato di Prinzio),
Pablo Molina (bass) (by Marco do Santos, by Jose Bautista),
David Alfaro (keys) (by Alfredo G. Demestres, Alex Roman).

Discography:

Muttered Promises from an Ageless Pond (1988)
Chasing the Dragonfly (1992)
Mindscapers (1997)