Sometimes, I just don’t get it. It doesn’t matter how many times
\nI listen to an album, I’m left there scratching my head, wondering
\nwhy something doesn’t move me.<\/p>\n
In the case of Crimson Glory, after listening to their new disc
\nabout 10 times, I wondered why this band continued to work in some
\nof the stereotypes that made up metal in the ’80s and early ’90s.
\nThe screeching, high pitched wails that passed for vocals on their
\nlatest disc,
\nAstronomica<\/i>, brought back memories of late, lamented bands
\nlike TT Quick. Oh, sure, they undoubtedly delighted me when I was
\n15, but now this shrieking sounds out of place, and Crimson Glory
\nis left sounding more like a retro act rather than a modern,
\nprogressive metal band.<\/p>\n
It’s not that Crimson Glory – vocalist Wade Black, guitarists
\nJon Drenning and Ben Jackson, bassist Jeff Lords and drummer Steve
\nWacholz — don’t try to be cutting edge. Tracks like “Cydonia,”
\n“Edge Of Forever” and even the title track all show signs that this
\nband is trying to move metal into the future without delving too
\nmuch into the Rush wanna-be motif. Musically, the band is pretty
\nsolid, though I would have preferred to hear a little more bass
\ncrunch in the final mix.<\/p>\n
But far too often, Black takes his vocals to the hystrionic
\nrange, making the band sound like they’re trying in vain to
\nrecapture the glories of days and bands past. One word, lads:
\nmoderation. When the technique is used sparingly, as on tracks like
\n“Lucifer’s Hammer,” it’s not so bad. But when it becomes a
\ncenterpiece of a song, as on “War Of The Worlds” and “New World
\nMachine,” the effect gets real annoying, real quick. Even on a song
\nlike “Cyber-Christ,” the overall theme of the track gets lost in so
\nmuch shouting.<\/p>\n
And while I can appreciate that
\nAstronomica<\/i> is not too deeply rooted in progressive veins
\nlike Rush or Dream Theater, at times Crimson Glory sounds like a
\nband without a genre to truly call their own. There’s not enough of
\nan “oomph” to the music to truly qualify them as a metal act, but
\nthey seem to dip only a toe into the progressive stream. If
\nanything, I would have liked to have heard Crimson Glory try their
\nhands at more complex arrangements, if only to challenge the
\nlistener.<\/p>\n
Until then,
\nAstronomica<\/i> will probably charm the pants off someone who
\nbelieves that true heavy metal stopped breathing around 1986, and
\nthat Crimson Glory represents the phoenix rising from grunge’s
\nashes. For the rest of us,
\nAstronomica<\/i> is a reminder why music must evolve.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25156,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6183],"rating":[11205],"class_list":["post-36361","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-crimson-glory","rating-rating-d-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36361"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36361\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36361"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=36361"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=36361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}