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Crimson Glory - Astronomica CD (album) cover

ASTRONOMICA

Crimson Glory

Progressive Metal


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3 stars A long awaited album that came after a reunion of the legendary power metal kings of the 80's, with vocalist Midnight replaced by Wade Black and drummer Steve Wacholtz taking Dana Burnell's place. This album devided fans' opinions and is mosty listed as a failure, but I wouldn't agree there. It would surely be a disappointement to those expecting from the band to produce 80s metal in 1999, but to those that appreciate change, progression, then this album would be considered a great addition to their collection. This album is their most progressive effort I believe, with several Egyptian music elements coming up in several songs, as the track Astronomica and the album's best Touch the Sun, or the Edge of Forever. There are also elements of distorted voices and effects and a general background of some concept with several prophecies fitting to each song of the album(as can be seen in the booklet). Wade Black is not Midnight, but well, no one is Midnight, and this is probably Black's best performances in every band he ever sung in, much better than Seven Witches or Leash Law. An outstanding vocalist with a great range and aggressive and also melodic vocals. The album consists of great songs and some that are just worth listening. It is surely not what the band would have released in the 80s but it is a great effort for 1999 and with the line up of the band at that time.
Report this review (#31516)
Posted Thursday, January 13, 2005 | Review Permalink
lafont59@hotm
4 stars Here it comes a review of an excellent album. Shy away from a masterpiece though, but a very well produced album, the sound is powerful, the riffs which are quite heavy at times, are somehow very interesting, with some egyptian kind of melodies. Many of the songs are very great metal songs, example "edge of forever" song is very deep, with great sound a perfect lead guitar, the singing of Wade Black becomes very valuable in this song. By the way, Mr. Black who's a good singer, has therefore not accomplished the challenge of making us forget, the other CG singer...Midnight. I would have put 3.7 stars, for this...not really progressive, but more power metal album.
Report this review (#31518)
Posted Monday, May 30, 2005 | Review Permalink
b_olariu
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars A welcome return to what they were once, among the top bands in the '80's metal. With ex Savatage drumer Steve Wacholz, Crimson Glory come with a new sound more elaborate then the '80 albums, but less enjoyble then Transcendence for ex. The album has very great llyrics just listen to Touch of the sun and The other side of midnight, but also musicaly speaking is good but non essential. The voice is something between Rob Halford and and the vocal from Sanctuary, is Ok, but sometime his screaming to much , i mean is to in front, to high without reason. Anyway on slower pieces Wade Black is just stunning on Touch of the sun is superb, and the bass player Jeff Lords is realy awesome, or maybe the sound of the album made him to sound so good and heavy.3 stars, for this one.
Report this review (#148826)
Posted Sunday, November 4, 2007 | Review Permalink
UMUR
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR
Honorary Collaborator
3 stars "Astronomica" is the 4th full-length studio album by US power metal act Crimson Glory. The album was released through Spitfire Records (US release)/Rising Sun (Europe release) in September 1999. Crimson Glory achieved quite a bit of success with their first two albums, which both featured a melodic but still at times pretty hard edged US power metal style. Their third full-length studio album "Strange And Beautiful (1991)" was generally not received that well though, and the band folded soon after its release. With a few lineup changes (including the replacement of original vocalist Midnight with Wade Black) the band reunited shortly in 1999 and recorded "Astronomica". Crimson Glory disbanded for a second time shortly after the release of the album.

After the stylistic mish mash of "Strange And Beautiful (1991)", fans of Crimson Glory probably didn´t have high expectations to "Astronomica". Stylistically it´s more or less a return to the US power/heavy metal style of the band´s first two albums though, and fans of those two albums should find a lot to like here. Midnight was of course an iconic frontman and his helium screams are legendary, but Wade Black does a great job here. He has a strong and commanding delivery, and can sing both raw and higher pitched screaming type vocals and his voice fits well with the instrumental part of the music.

The material on the 10 track, 69:44 minutes long album (about 20 minutes of which are silence following the closing track "Cydonia") are well written and relatively varied. There are hard edged US power metal tracks like "War Of The Worlds", "Lucifer's Hammer", and "Cyber-Christ" featured on the album, but there are also more epic and sometimes bordering power ballad type tracks like "Astronomica", "Edge of Forever", and "Cydonia". Some tracks are very well written, powerful, and memorable, while others are less remarkable. Everything features a professional touch though, and paired with a powerful and detailed sound production, and high level musicianship, "Astronomica" is a relatively successful return to form after the generally ill-received "Strange And Beautiful (1991)". It´s not a perfect album by any means, but there are enough quality here to warrant a 3.5 star (70%) rating.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives)

Report this review (#153009)
Posted Wednesday, November 28, 2007 | Review Permalink
ProgBagel
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars Crimson Glory - Astronomica 3 stars

The redeeming album.

After the last disaster, there is a replacement drummer and finally another guitar is brought back on board to fix the leak in the faucet. One of the defining factors of the band was the vocals, and sadly Midnight had left. The new vocalist, Wade Black, was not terrible by any means, but different from what Crimson Glory had going for it.

Aside from the much needed guitarist, the music was also a little more powerful than the previous effort. The twin guitar attack wasn't as powerful as before, but it was a step up from the single guitarist idea beforehand. This effort seemed to produce a decent record. Plenty of twists of hooks to keep the listener somewhat entertained, but the emergence of the 90's progressive metal bands just makes this one bite the dust. Still a pretty good album though.

Report this review (#190591)
Posted Thursday, November 27, 2008 | Review Permalink
ProgShine
COLLABORATOR
Honorary Collaborator
2 stars Astronomica (1999) is the fourth studio album by Crimson Glory, a North American band. In fact is their first album in 8 years since Strange And Beautiful (1991). Nothing strange that this was their comeback and also last release.

Crimson Glory plays pretty much Heavy Metal with hints of Progressive Metal. It is in fact a 4 man band, but it looks like a solo project, really.

Nothing, nothing remarkable. Nothing really stands out but one phrase in my mind: "Endless screaming and a horrible drum sound."

Oh yeah, and don't forget that after 5 minutes of the last song you still have more.... perfect!

Report this review (#832785)
Posted Thursday, October 4, 2012 | Review Permalink
4 stars It's been eight years since Crimson Glory's last release, 1991's 'Strange and Beautiful'. The band had made quite a name for themselves at the start of their career, but all their momentum was cut off by "the 90's". Music trends shifted and Crimson Glory, like so many others, failed to remain relevant. However, the band never faltered and eventually returned with 1999's 'Astronomica'.

While 'Strange and Beautiful' wasn't a terrible album, it didn't quite achieve the success of its predecessors, mostly due to the dying metal scene at the time, and the fact that the band tried being more experimental with their approach to songwriting. Thankfully, the boys are back on top form here, with 'Astronomica' going back to a full-on metal assault. Stylistically similar to 'Transcendence', the only major difference here, besides having a different vocalist, is a more beefed up production, which makes the Glory sound heavier than they ever had before.

The album has been scrutinized for its faults however. Most notable is that the drumming is all machine-programmed, a 20-minute police radio broadcast which closes the album off, but wastes a hell of a lot of time in doing so, and then there's vocalist Wade Black! Former vocalist Midnight left some impossible shoes to fill, and it's understandable why most fans weren't keen on Black's efforts, but for what it's worth, I think he does a good job and his voice suits the heavier sound of the band.

If you haven't completely given up with Crimson Glory by now, then you'll find some nice little gems on this album. Songs such as 'War of the Worlds', 'New World Machine', 'Cyber Christ', 'Cydonia' and the title track itself, can all hold their own with the bands previous material, and while it's fair to say this will never be their best release, it's still a worthy addition to any metal collection.

Report this review (#1781949)
Posted Thursday, September 14, 2017 | Review Permalink

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