War Of The Worlds - Crimson Glory

Transcendence - Crimson Glory

'Transcendence' should be viewed as an essential purchase for fans of progressive power metal - a seemingly obscure genre I know, but one with a number of high-profile acts such as Symphony X, Angra and Ayreon - as along with the work of Fates Warning around the same time, it helped to define and found the genre, despite not actually sounding all that much like it. This is thoughtful and creative melodic metal that retains a commercial appeal, and for every intricate guitar solo ('Red Sharks'), there's a catchy, almost pop-rock chorus to balance things out ('Lady of Winter'). Some of the songs here are instantly memorable, which will serve to count against the album if you ...

Transcendence - Crimson Glory

'Transcendence' should be viewed as an essential purchase for fans of progressive power metal - a seemingly obscure genre I know, but one with a number of high-profile acts such as Symphony X, Angra and Ayreon - as along with the work of Fates Warning around the same time, it helped to define and found the genre, despite not actually sounding all that much like it. This is thoughtful and creative melodic metal that retains a commercial appeal, and for every intricate guitar solo ('Red Sharks'), there's a catchy, almost pop-rock chorus to balance things out ('Lady of Winter'). Some of the songs here are instantly memorable, which will serve to count against the album if you ...

Strange And Beautiful - Crimson Glory

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 ...

Strange And Beautiful - Crimson Glory

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 ...

Astronomica - Crimson Glory

Eight years after the band s third album, Crimson Glory partially reunited and attempted to win back fans with a more committed heavy metal performance than the lacklustre glam of Strange and Beautiful. Unfortunately, they didn t do it very well. Astronomica is certainly an album of good intentions, with its Judas Priest approach, science fiction concepts and bold attempts to change aspects of the band s established sound, most notably the vocals, but it severely lacks in the songwriting department. These songs are overlong, desperate and very dull on the whole. New singer Wade Black tries his best Rob Halford impersonation, a radical departure from his predecessor ...

Astronomica - Crimson Glory

Eight years after the band s third album, Crimson Glory partially reunited and attempted to win back fans with a more committed heavy metal performance than the lacklustre glam of Strange and Beautiful. Unfortunately, they didn t do it very well. Astronomica is certainly an album of good intentions, with its Judas Priest approach, science fiction concepts and bold attempts to change aspects of the band s established sound, most notably the vocals, but it severely lacks in the songwriting department. These songs are overlong, desperate and very dull on the whole. New singer Wade Black tries his best Rob Halford impersonation, a radical departure from his predecessor ...