CRIMSON GLORY Is 'Three Quarters Of The Way Finished' With First New Album In More Than 25 Years

In a new interview with Mark Kadzielawa of 69 Faces Of Rock, CRIMSON GLORY guitarist Ben Jackson and vocalist Travis Wills confirmed that the reactivated progressive metal band is working on its first full-length album in more than 25 years. Joining Ben and Travis in CRIMSON GLORY's new lineup are bassist Jeff Lords and drummer Dana Burnell, along with guitarist Mark "Borgy" Borgmeyer of the Sarasota/Bradenton, Florida hard rock act THE LOST BOYS.

Regarding the progress of the songwriting and recording sessions for the new CRIMSON GLORY LP, Ben said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It's probably three quarters of the way finished. We're in the last couple months of work on it now, I think."

As for the musical and lyrical direction of the new CRIMSON GLORY material, Ben said: "It's not a concept album, but it's got a lot of really cool songs, all with interesting topics. The style really harkens back to the sound of the first two albums [1986's self-titled LP and 1988's 'Transcendence'] in a lot of ways. I think Travis, although he has his own unique voice and tone, he has the ability to sound like [original CRIMSON GLORY singer] Midnight here and there too, and channel some of that vibe, that Midnight vibe, which is great, in just enough of a way that I think the fans are really gonna love that. And all I can say is the songs are similar to the first two albums. In my opinion, it's even a little more progressive than the first two albums, this new album, even a little more modern, a little more progressive."

Travis, who was previously a member of the Dallas, Texas progressive power metal band INFIDEL RISING, chimed in: "Yeah. Well, I would say so. Jeff did almost all of the writing on the music. And then I wrote the melodies. And sometimes Jeff was, like, 'Yeah, I'm married to this part. Sing this this way.' And I'm, like, 'Okay,' which is fine with me.

"I think the fans are totally going to love this album," the singer continued. "There's a lot of hat tipping to Midnight, and the things that I think that the fans really love about Midnight, you'll hear the hat tipping to him in that. And that's because he's such a unique and incredible vocalist that me being able to have the ability to do some of the stuff that he can do — not perfect, but in a way that honors him — was important to me and I think it's important to the fans as well. And that was my goal."

Asked what he thinks he brings to the table with his contributions, Travis said: "Well, I don't think I strayed too far off the path of the first two albums. A lot of times, when a new singer comes and they allow them to write melodies and words, things can change. I don't think that I strayed too far off the path. So I think that when fans hear it, they won't — I don't know how to say this — they'll be happy with the results."

On the topic of how long it took for CRIMSON GLORY to write the material for the upcoming album, Ben said: "A few of the ideas for some of the songs on this album go back a couple years that Jeff had in the works — 'Armor Against Fate' and 'Indelible Ashes', these songs are a couple years old. A lot of them are songs that Jeff and Travis kind of brainstormed out in the last half a year. Some of 'em, they just got on a writer's flow and kind of banged out a bunch of songs. All of it's pretty fresh material, all written within the last couple years."

Ben also talked about CRIMSON GLORY's image, referencing the fact that the group started out by wearing full-face metallic silver masks before toning then down to smaller half-face masks. The guitarist said: "It's still just a dynamic look. We like to dress the part. We don't like to look like just your everyday bums up there. We experimented with some new modern masks [in 2024] when we first released the new look of the band being back, but I think we're already moving towards now going on a maskless look. We're getting ready to schedule some new photo shoots. We kind of showed the fans that we can do different variations of the masks, whether they're full face, half face, these modern, futuristic ones we worked with, but we can go with them or without 'em. They're not really so much needed for us."

CRIMSON GLORY's new lineup made its live debut on October 5, 2024 at the Keep It True Rising IV festival at Posthalle in Würzburg, Germany.

The Keep It True Rising IV show marked CRIMSON GLORY's first live appearance in more than 12 years.

In January 2024, CRIMSON GLORY released the official lyric video for the first single to feature the band's new lineup, a song called "Triskaideka". Travis told The Metal Command about the fan response to the track: "At first, I was a little nervous when I was reading the comments, but then I was, like, it is what it is. I'm just gonna go out there, do my best and let the chips fall where they fall. The guys [in the band] obviously like what I've been doing with the songs, and that's really important. It's really important that the that the fans of the band dig it, and I'm really glad that they got a little glimpse of what my voice kind of steers toward that they can get on board with that."

He continued: "I've seen some real interesting comparisons, and while I don't hear it, I'm glad to read it. So that makes me happy, especially the Warrel Dane [comparison]. I'm, like, I don't hear it, but I'll take that. And, of course, the kind of Midnight overtone, I'm very glad to do that.

"Man, I'll tell you what, I was really scared going — not scared, but just nervous going into it, because when you're stepping into a legendary vocalist['s shoes], there's a lot of weight that is on your shoulders," Wills admitted. "And I had to think about it, if this is something that I feel like I could do. And I thought about it, and I'm, like, 'Yeah, I can do this.' And I'm glad that these guys trust me to bring that to the band."

Jackson told The Metal Command last year that the new CRIMSON GLORY music sounds "pretty close" to "Crimson Glory" and "Transcendence". "Obviously we're different now and we're evolving, as a band should," he explained. "It might have a little more modernisms about it, it might sound a little more modern. The production will probably be a little better and more modern than the productions on the first two albums because of things that you can do today in the recording world. The first album, when I listen to it, it sounds thick and everything, but the production's a little dated. Stylistically, the way we're writing, I think it's really right up the alley of what we were doing then. And, obviously, Travis is gonna bring something new to this, because he's a different guy, he's his own guy. Like he says, on some of these songs, he does little things that sort of tip the hat to the Midnight vibe, but he's really an original, and that's what we needed in a new singer. We didn't want a Midnight clone. We wanted somebody who was special, a real original. And we have that. Travis is very special, very original."

In February 2024, Jackson told The Rock N' Roll & Coffee Show about how CRIMSON GLORY decided to become active again: "There was this really great singer named Mystique, a guy from Greece, and he was brought to our attention by a friend of ours. And the guy Mystique really caught our attention, got us kind of interested in maybe doing something with the band again. He sounded a lot like Midnight, which was appealing for us at first. And then we worked with the guy for almost a couple of years, writing some songs and discussing the possibility of him joining the band. And ultimately it didn't really work out with him. We didn't really agree on everything we were doing with the songwriting, but he was a cool guy. But it didn't really work out, so he's gonna go ahead and do a solo album. And we wish him well with that. But that's kind of what got us reinterested, actually, is our friend bringing this guy to our attention. And when it didn't work out with him, Jeff and Dana and I were already kind of amped up with some of the new songs that we were working on. And we said, 'Well, we'll find somebody and we'll just do this.' And we did. We looked at a couple other singers before we kind of happened upon the guy we have now, Travis."

Asked what excited him about Travis, Ben said: "Well, what excited me was, I guess, he sent us a version of him singing one of our classic songs, 'Painted Skies', and it sounded really good; he was really capturing the emotion of the song. And he didn't sound exactly like Midnight, like he was trying to copycat him; he kind of had his own sound, his own voice, but he was really, really nailing it and sounded really good with it. So I was, like, 'This guy is something else.'"

Jackson also touched upon the lack of involvement of CRIMSON GLORY's founding guitarist Jon Drenning with the band's current formation. Asked if Jon is contributing to any of the music writing, Ben said: "No, not this time around. He's just completely away from it. Around 2012, when we were sort of writing with [former CRIMSON GLORY and current QUEENSRŸCHE singer] Todd [La Torre] for what we were gonna make a new album with Todd, we started planning some specific evenings in which we'd all write together, and Jon was just not showing up that much. He came to a few and then sort of slacked off on it. And that's one of the reasons that led to Todd just kind of pulling out and going full force with QUEENSRŸCHE. And that was over 10, 11 years ago now, and we haven't really had any contact with Jon in the last 10 years — any of us. We wish him well and everything, but, yeah, I think from the time his son was born, he just kind of removed himself from the music business and wants to play the dad role. And that's understandable. It's not really in his priority list right now to be doing music and records and stuff."

In December 2023, Drenning said that he "would have loved to be a part of" the band's reformed lineup, but that his family life has prevented him from being involved in the legendary progressive power metallers' comeback.

Drenning made his comments one day after it was announced that CRIMSON GLORY was returning with new lead vocalist, new guitarist and immediate plans to release two new singles.

On December 23, 2023, Drenning released the following statement to BLABBERMOUTH.NET: "I wish Ben, Dana and Jeff all the best. I would have loved to be a part of this new chapter, but my priorities are not in sync with the band at this juncture. Indeed, being a father has shaped my priorities in ways I could never imagine. Mark Borgemeyer is a good friend and I can't think of a better candidate to fill my shoes. I share the same enthusiasm as the fans, and there may be another surprise for them around the corner…stay tuned."

CRIMSON GLORY had been largely inactive since La Torre officially quit the band in February 2013.

La Torre, who joined Seattle-based progressive metal icons QUEENSRŸCHE in June 2012 as the replacement for Geoff Tate, became an official member of CRIMSON GLORY in April 2010 and played a number of shows with the Florida metal act during the two-and-a-half-year period prior to his exit.

A "raw" version of a new CRIMSON GLORY demo track titled "Garden Of Shadows", featuring La Torre on vocals, was released in September 2012 and was supposed to appear on the band's new concept record, which was expected sometime in 2013.

In announcing his departure from CRIMSON GLORY, La Torre said that his involvement with QUEENSRŸCHE "had nothing to do" with his decision to leave CRIMSON GLORY, adding that the "main reason" for his "resignation" was "primarily" due to the latter band's "inertia status."

La Torre made his first public appearance with CRIMSON GLORY at ProgPower USA X as one of 17 guest performers paying tribute to Midnight.

Midnight passed away in 2009 due to long-term health complications.

Wade Black sang on CRIMSON GLORY's 1999 album "Astronomica" and took part in a subsequent European tour.

David Van Landing replaced Midnight briefly for the U.S. tour in support of CRIMSON GLORY's third album, 1991's "Strange And Beautiful".