CRIMSON GLORY

CRIMSON GLORY's debut album is a combination of IRON MAIDEN-like guitar, Geoff Tate-like vocals, and even early FATES WARNING-like melodies. If you are a fan of eighties metal and haven't heard these guys yet you owe it to yourself to check out their first two albums.

"Valhalla" is one of my favourites on this album. The melodic twin guitar attack and the screaming vocals of Midnight all spell pleasure. "Dragon Lady" is similar but more uptempo. "Heart Of Steel" has tasteful MAIDEN like guitar melodies and is really a ballad until 1 1/2 minutes in when the tempo speeds up with riffs galore. "Azrael" is another great tune that reminds me of early FATES WARNING until the tempo picks up to a galloping rhythm. Some nice drum work to end it.

"Mayday" opens with a sample of a count down and as the count hits zero CRIMSON takes off flying. This is the craziest, fastest song on the record. Lots of screaming vocals on this one."Queen Of The Masquerade" opens with some great guitar and also features some theatrical vocals. "Angel Of War" has a catchy melody. "Lost Reflection" might be the best tune on the record. It opens with gentle guitar, synths and slow paced theatrical vocals. After 3 minutes the song explodes breifly. Nice contrast ! It ends as it began.

This is one of those albums that will either make you cringe a lot or bring a smile to your face as your taken to a familiar place. I guess I did a little of both. 3.5 stars.

Crimson Glory was a little band from Florida that ignored the flourishing death metal scene and instead helped to pioneer progressive metal alongside Queensryche and Fates Warning. Their vocalist dubbed himself Midnight. Had he not been so talented, that would be sufficient reason for us to never mention Crimson Glory ever again. However, in a rare turn of events, the band backed up their silly metal attitude with skill. Combining the complex melodies of Fates Warning with the soaring vocals of Queensryche, Crimson Glory were one of those all too often overlooked bands that helped to shape progressive metal. Vocally, Midnight sounds like King Diamond if King Diamond only used the upper half of his range. However, there is more power in Midnight's high notes than the King's airy falsettos. He moves the songs as much as the instruments do, which is impressive considering the speedy gait of these power progressive tunes.

There are a few highlights on this debut album. Valhalla is a power metal anthem from the gods, with screaming guitars and vocals that are sure to make the average maiden fan smile. Dragon Lady is more of the same, but it still pleases. Heart of Steel goes from a soft opening to an epic song that wouldn't sound out of place on an Iron Maiden album. Azrael fuses Fates warning melody with Maiden's galloping structure t make a very interesting track. The real stand out, however, is the closing track Lost Reflection. Midnight's composition is a haunting song that goes from an eerie intro to a full blown epic in just under five minutes. One of CG's top three songs, in my opinion.

Crimson Glory's debut, like Queensryche's The Warning, owes a little too much to Iron Maiden to be considered unique. However, it did stand out against the death metal scene of their native Florida and the hair metal scene that dominated US airwaves. Fans of Fates Warning, Iron Maiden, and Queensryche must pick this up, and while you're at it get CG's best album Transcendence. This is one of the strongest debuts of 80s metal, but it's not quite progressive yet.

Grade: C

"Crimson Glory" is the eponymously titled debut full-length studio album by US power/heavy metal act Crimson Glory. The album was released through Roadrunner Records in October 1986. Crimson Glory was formed in 1979 under the Pierced Arrow monicker but changed their name to Beowulf in 1982, before finally settling on the Crimson Glory monicker in 1983. While not all five members had been part of the early lineups of the band, Crimson Glory were in 1986 already quite an experienced act...

...and that is audible while listening to the album, which features high level musicianship on all posts. Stylistically the music is melodic US power metal and artists like early Queensrÿche and early Fates Warning are valid references. That means powerful heavy metal riffing, blistering solos and melodic lead themes, a pounding organic rhythm section, and the extremely high pitched vocals by Midnight in front. He is an incredibly skilled vocalist with great power and a commanding delivery, and while his helium screams are usually what people mention he does deliver really convincing and more raw mid- range vocals too. Not enough great things can be said about his performance here. He certainly is a vocalist extraordinaire (just take a listen to his performance on tracks like "Heart Of Steel" and "Mayday" for a display of his incredible skills). The rest of the band follow suit though and the instrumental performances on the album are also of incredibly high class.

The material featured on the 8 track, 38:51 minutes long album is well written and quite catchy US power/heavy metal tracks. Crimson Glory are often linked to the early 80s progressive metal scene, but it´s not often they leave the classic vers/chorus formula. Not that it matters though, because they master that formula to perfection. Another strength of the album is the great energy that is present in the music and the good balance between melody and rawness. The album features a powerful and well sounding production too, and upon conclusion it´s a very strong debut album by Crimson Glory. When the quality is as high as it is here, it´s simply wrong using the word promising to describe the album (which is often a word used about debut albums). A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives)

Crimson Glory - 'Crimson Glory' 2.5 stars

The cousin of Queensryche and Fates Warning.

Those two bands come heavily into mind when listening to this band. I wouldn't call this a brother because this band was left in the dust when Queensryche and Fates Warning put out albums to be remembered, but I am sure very few found this band to be better and their impact on the progressive metal scene should be pretty close to what the above did also.

This is a very dated record. The compositions aren't exactly intricate and explorative and the vocals scream hair metal. The guitars can still hold up to be pretty interesting, even by today's standards with all the giants now like Dream Theater and Symphony X.

I can't really bring myself to listen to this ever again regardless of any circumstances. It is just too dated of a record to bring any listening joy. I would only give this 2 stars for collectors of the genre of progressive metal. Things just got far better than this twenty years later.