Sentinel

About Sentinel

The Sentinel is the debut album by British Progressive rock band Pallas. It is a concept album with lyrics based upon Cold War themes, using a futuristic version of the tale of Atlantis as a metaphor for a technologically advanced society brought to the brink of destruction. The cover artwork is by Patrick Woodroffe. Much of the album's material first appeared in the Atlantis Suite, an epic science fiction rock opera which was a cornerstone of live Pallas shows at the time. The band's original intent was that the album would present the entire piece as a concept album, with the following running order: Side 1 "Rise and Fall (Part One)" - 6:05 "Eastwest" - 4:58 "March on Atlantis" - 5:23 "Rise and Fall (Part Two)" - 4:08Side 2 "Heart Attack" - 7:59 "Atlantis" - 7:59 "Ark of Infinity" - 7:05The group did in fact record the entire suite at the time; however, EMI wanted the group to balance its progressive efforts with more commercial songs, such as "Eyes in the Night" (AKA "Arrive Alive"), "Cut and Run", and "Shock Treatment", and as a result, only four of the songs from the Atlantis Suite were presented in the original version of the album, and then not in the preferred running order, obscuring the original concept entirely. The excised songs were issued as B-sides and EP tracks. This frustrated many of the band's existing fans, since anyone who wanted to hear the entire Atlantis Suite would have to buy the album and all of the associated EPs and singles. more »