Strange and Beautiful (Strange And Beautiful - Crimson Glory)

Member Name: Frankingsteins

Product:	Strange And Beautiful - Crimson Glory
Date:	13/06/08 (14 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Acceptable glam metal.

Disadvantages: Abandons the innovative and accomplished style of previous albums.

Crimson Glory's discography is easy to divide down the middle, between the two early releases that were pretty great, and the two later releases that were rather awful.

'Strange and Beautiful' seems to be this band's answer to Metallica's black album, not in terms of sound but in its deliberate attempt to reach a wider audience by compromising the band's established sound and alienating its loyal fan base in favour of new, mainstream acceptance. I couldn't say whether this was a successful move or not at the time, but nowadays Crimson Glory are respected in the metal world for their early achievements by fans who pretend they disbanded before the 1990s kicked off.

The style here is predominantly glam metal, not as horrendous as Celtic Frost's 'Cold Lake' but comparable to the best of bands such as Warrant, Firehouse and all the rest, where 'best' isn't saying a lot. Radio-friendly power ballads aplenty ('Love and Dreams,' 'Song for Angels,' 'Deep Inside Your Heart' and 'Far Away,' ever so predictably), while the other songs lack the excitement and style of the earlier albums, partly due to the absence of Ben Jackson's lead guitars as Jon Drenning has to compensate all on his own with a stream of unmemorable riffs.

1. Strange and Beautiful
2. Promise Land
3. Love and Dreams
4. The Chant
5. Dance on Fire
6. Song for Angels
7. In the Mood
8. Starchamber
9. Deep Inside Your Heart
10. Make You Love Me
11. Far Away

Summary: Crimson Glory's third album (1991).