‘Wearewhoweare’, released in 2014, is the second and final Pallas album with singer Paul Mackie — a compact, self-released set that keeps the band’s neo-prog craft but trims it into shorter, more focused songs.

The short version

‘Wearewhoweare’ is a 2014 studio album by Pallas and the last with Paul Mackie on lead vocals. Released three years after ‘XXV’, it kept the same five-piece: Mackie singing, Niall Mathewson on guitars, Ronnie Brown on keyboards, founding bassist Graeme Murray and Colin Fraser on drums. Where earlier Pallas records leaned on long suites, this one is built from eight fairly concise songs, most in the four-to-eight-minute range, for a tighter, more streamlined feel. The band released it themselves rather than through a label. On Discogs it sits below their best-loved records, near 3.4 out of 5 from a small pool of ratings, and reactions were more mixed than for its predecessor.

The Song-First Chapter

By 2014 the Mackie-fronted Pallas had settled. ‘Wearewhoweare’ was that line-up’s second studio album, following ‘XXV’, and it kept every member in place: Paul Mackie on lead vocals, Niall Mathewson on guitars, Ronnie Brown on keyboards, Graeme Murray on bass and Colin Fraser on drums. Rather than sign to an outside label, the band released it independently, a route many veteran prog acts took in the 2010s. The set is far more compact than most of their catalogue — eight songs, none reaching ten minutes — pointing to a deliberate move toward focused writing.

The sound

‘Wearewhoweare’ is the band’s most concise, song-focused neo-prog: eight tracks built around verses and choruses rather than extended suites, with Mackie’s vocal well forward and Mathewson and Brown supporting more than soloing. The structure is the clearest evidence — nothing here reaches the ten-minute epics that mark much of the catalogue, and several songs sit near four to six minutes. Reviewers split on the approach: some welcomed the discipline and stronger melodies, others missed the scale and instrumental stretch of the bigger records. Not in dispute is the palette, still recognisably Pallas — layered keyboards, melodic guitar and a full rhythm section — applied to tighter songs.

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The songs

‘Shadow of the Sun’ opens the album at over seven minutes, one of its larger-scaled tracks and a strong statement of the line-up’s melodic side. ‘And I Wonder Why’ sits mid-record as one of its more reflective, mid-tempo songs, putting Mackie’s phrasing over Brown’s keyboards. ‘Winter Is Coming’ closes the set — another of the longer pieces, a fitting end that lets the band stretch a little beyond the compact tracks around it. Together the three show the album’s range: accessible, melody-led writing that still leaves room, at the edges, for the band’s proggier instincts.

Reception and legacy

‘Wearewhoweare’ drew a more divided response than the album before it. On Discogs its average sits near 3.4 out of 5, below the band’s best-regarded titles, though the ratings pool is small enough to read with caution. Self-released, it reached listeners mainly through the band’s own channels and the prog community rather than a label push. Fans and reviewers tended to agree on the description — a more compact, melody-led Pallas — while disagreeing on whether that was a welcome refinement or a loss of the band’s trademark ambition.

The verdict

‘Wearewhoweare’ is the Pallas album to reach for if you want melody and concision over sprawl. Its eight songs are direct and well-crafted, Paul Mackie is in strong voice, and the shorter formats make for an easy first listen. Devotees of the band’s epic side may find it modest by comparison, and its lower profile — self-released, with fewer ratings and reviews — means it is often overlooked beside the bigger records.

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