And so Galahad’s year-long campaign of (three) extended players comes to an end on something of a downer with, of all things, a cover of a Rammstein tune.
A live favourite, Mein Herz Brennt (or ‘My Heart Burns’) comes from the German metallers’ 2001 album Mutter, and here we have four separate takes on the tune by the British prog band. Of the four, the first is the strongest, with Stuart Nicholson relishing the beautiful melody (which runs counter to the nightmare lyrics), accompanied only by Dean Baker’s sweet, echoing piano and Louise Braunton-Curtis’ heart-rending violin. The ‘Fully Loaded’ mix has the whole band weighing in, but Roy Keyworth’s amped-up guitars and Spencer Luckman/Mark Spencer’s big rhythm section pale in comparison to Rammstein’s power, just because almost everything this side of Meshuggah does. The English-language version reveals just how creepy the lyrics are (‘Now children, pay attention, I am the voice from the pillow’), but the piano instrumental’s pretty superfluous. 2015 will be Galahad’s 30th-anniversary year, with a reissue of Empires Never Last on the cards for January. That’ll wash away the bittersweet taste of this one.
