ON TO EVERMORE

The next step for Glass Hammer was to release a live album, so ''Live and revived'' became reality in 1997, containing material from the band's first pair of albums as well as some previously unreleased cuts.Michelle Young appeared for the last time with the band, having already an album out (''Song of the siren'' from 1996) and moving on to a solo career.The basic core was now reduced to a quartet: Fred Schendel, Steve Babb, David Carter and Walter Moore.With a handful of guests the third studio album ''On to evermore'' was released in 1998, based on a story of a sculptor and the woman he creates.

This was another solid effort by the Americans, showing the group moving into the right direction but suffering from the same weaknesses as all of Glass Hammer's early efforts.The YES comparisons become apparent for the first time: The band tried to develop interesting arrangements with dramatic sections, symphonic underlines, poppy sensibilities and complex themes into mid-length, elaborate tracks.The keyboard work is mostly performed on modern keyboards, which is basically the main problem of the album, as some parts sound very thin and amateur.However the bulk of Babb's and Schendel's work is quite interesting with Classical touches, atmospheric passages and bombastic, flashy solos.Moreover the album contains a decent dose of organ runs and a few Mellotron sampling to display the vintage inspiration of the band.''On to evermore'' marks also the first attempt by Glass Hammer to produce a long epic, the 17-min. ''Arianna'', containg evident KANSAS influences, built around romantic piano lines, sensitive vocals, angular synthesizers and discreet organ with lots of YES blinks during the instrumental exercises and some nice melodies.Even if the band struggled to find a balance between Classic Symphonic Rock and symphonic-oriented Neo Prog, the material in here is well-performed, directed by the passion of Glass Hammer for pompous, multi-part arrangements.

KANSAS and YES fan is pretty likely to love this work, which I would basically list as symphonic-inclined Neo Prog in the vein of SPOCK'S BEARD.Warmly recommended.