A s t r o n o m i c a
Showcase
Album for October 1999
A s t r o n o m i c a
Showcase
Album for October 1999
| 1. March to Glory 2. War of the Worlds 3. New World Machine 4. Astronomica 5. Edge of Forever 6. Touch the Sun 7. Lucifer's Hammer 8. The Other Side of Midnight 9. Cyber-Christ 10. Cydonia |
|
March to Glory |
| After an eight year silence, Crimson Glory has finally released
their latest album, with sky high expectations and long awaited anticipation. With
multiple release dates pushed further and further back, and many things going wrong in the
studio it seemed like "Astronomica" would never see the light of day. A mp3 from
the album floated around for what began to feel like forever, that boasted a
"Transcendence" like sound, with strong guitar melodies, and clean vocal lines.
This only stirred up more interest in the album until every CG fan on planet Earth was
simply dying to hear this new offering by the legendary band, all memories of the accident
known as "Strange and Beautiful" erased from recent memory. CG was back, and
better than ever, they all said. But as one wise man once said, Don't Believe the Hype. That's the sad thing about the Crimson Glory album, its not that its necessarily bad, its just not "Transcendence Part II" like everyone was waiting for. And for that alot must be subtracted from it. The biggest noticable difference between CG of new and CG of old, is the overall musical style. These guys were way ahead of their time back in the mid 1980s, and literally created modern day progressive/power metal as we know it single handedly. Everyone from Conception and Elegy to Morgana Lefay was very obviously influenced by them, and one of the first bands pulled out of the hat to compare these newbie bands to is of course CG. With the launching of a comeback album, one would think they would tap into this highly acclaimed classic sound and produce some fresh tunes out of that legendary vat full of progressive complexity. Instead they take this piece of progressive sound, and mix it up with middle eastern influences, industrial, bits of thrash and a splash of Judas Priest for colour. The mishmash results in a very "modern" album, a new sound for a new millenium. CG accomplished morphing their style into something futuristic and very...different. But I have a feeling old school Crimson Glory fans will be bitterly disappointed, for the heart stopping masterpieces of old that lodged your heart in your throat and froze the emotions in your soul are not present on this disc, with one fine exception. However, its difficult to find fault in the production, with it being dead on. John Drenning's axework is just as fine as ever, just falling short of the heights we had hoped, but that's more because of the songwriting than his actual performance on the cd. Very clean, sharp solos, heavy backing riffs, and guitar heroics executed flawlessly throughout. War Machine...err...Wade Black, delivers solid vocals, if a bit screechy at times, mimicking Ripper Owens from Judas Priest. The more I listen to him, the more I kept thinking he reminded me of someone else, and finally I was able to put my finger on it, Robert Mason (James Byrd, Lynch Mob). Black screams, shrieks and exercises those vocal chords in general. Unfortunately, he fails to grasp the listener as Midnight often did by stamping each song with emotional involvement. The bass guitar work is also of note, with several songs lavishing it on heavily. |
The Songs |
| When it gets down to the songs though, it's irrelevant whether
they all sound like rejects from a Judas Priest-goes-industrial album, all that matters is
whether the tunes are good or not, and yes, this album has a handful of great songs, just
dont expect them to sound like Crimson Glory. "Astronomica" is another album by
a well known metal band that must be listened to as something totally fresh and different.
With "Transcendence" floating in the back of the mind, it will be nothing but a
let down from start to finish. Opening track, "March to Glory" is a short track,
serving as a mood setter for the album. Vocal samples from wartime victories, set to the
poundingly ominious pounding of military drums, this marching tune sends the feeling of
the disk headed straight for battle, and carried straight into track 2, "War of the
Worlds". Surprisingly, "March to Glory" was originally written and recorded
by Enya.. so in essence its a cover song. "War.." combines lots of bass with
vocals that switch from full shriek mode to a lower growl in seconds, then back again. The
chorus, with the unusual drums, and guitar ripping up and down the scale and overwhelming
mishmashed musical background proves to be one of the few heartstopping moments on this
disc. These two songs matched together are actually one fine piece of music. Pulsing,
firebranded electric guitar opens "New World Machine" wide up. More vocal
switching, this time between his "normal" blues touched singing voice (very much
like Mason here!) and an evil mechanical "distorted" sound. This song rides on
the heavy bass melodies and wavy melodic guitar riffs, with holes pierced in the assault
of sound by Wade's shrieks and screaming vocals. Tapping into some blues influences,
Drenning gets "Edge of Forever" kicked off with some tasty squealing axelicks
while Black drags his voice through his more bluesy filled style. More laid back, this
serves as the ballad on the album, if you will call it that. Lots of acoustic guitar up
until the solo of course, where they dig the bass back out and throw in some heavier
riffs, and the vocals start pushing the envelope again, almost breaking out into the
shrill shrieking, but the War Machine amazingly contains himself. As with most Crimson
Glory releases, there is that one song that stands out, and the one on this disc is simply
brilliant. Its a return to insanity, "Lost Reflection part II", given life with
the same heartbreakingly gruesome vocals that collaspe into the terrifying depths within
the loss of sanity. Several nods to former vocalist Midnight, and the same setting as the
tune from over a dozen years ago. We find ourselves locked back up in the attic, with just
the rocking chair as company. With the nostalgic pull I'd have to give this song almost a
ten. Simply delightful. Everything else on the disk ranges from being decent, sinking down to one low point with the over the top industrial sound of "Cyber Christ", where the vocals sound almost Stone Temple Pilot-ish exchanged for more shrieks and the brutal progressive industrial thrashiness in "Lucifer's Hammer", which the latter falls back upon that vocal transition that Wade Black seems to thrive on. "Touch the Sun" pales in comparision to the earlier demo of it. They tweaked this track too much, and turned the straightforward beauty of the song formerly known as "There is No God", into some kind of middle eastern influenced thing. Definitely should have left this one be, because the earlier demo of this is ten times better than anything that made it onto "Astronomica". Speaking of that, the title track also taps into that Middle Eastern thing, and its just not my cup of tea. "Cydonia" has an 80s kind of chorus to it and is a decent tune if you dont count the lengthy amount of radio noise that trails after it, I guess it was this that CG has been plugging as being controversial. The only thing more annoying was the shorter, yet equally irritating "Knocking" on Shadow Gallery's "Carved In Stone", which was enough for me to poke fun at the album and shelve it on a permenant basis. |
The Edge of Forever |
| Looking over "Astronomica" as a whole, including the
fact it strays from and totally throws away the sound Crimson Glory once gave light to,
and with its wartime/alien invasion lyrics, its easy to realize, that this might not sound
like CG, but that doesn't mean its a 'bad' album. The disappointment factor will slap some
people right in the face, and most likely they wont return to give the album another look,
and others will shy away from Wade's vocal style, which does get annoying. But even though
its not the masterpiece that was expected, dreamed about, or hoped for,
"Astronomica" manages to accomplish establishing the futuristic defining feel of
music for the new millenium, a concept that Drenning and company has obviously invested
alot of time and effort into. Rating
= 7.8 |
