CRIMSON GLORY

Prog metal pioneers and '80s metal icons, CRIMSON GLORY have been criminally overlooked and consigned to the dusty cupboard of history by most metal commentators over the last 25 years. The band themselves are partly responsible for this regrettable state of affairs, however, due to an inexplicable decision to jettison their trademark sound after only two albums. On their first two records, 1986's self-titled debut and its near-perfect follow-up, 1988's "Transcendence", the Floridians stood shoulder-to-shoulder with QUEENSRYCHE and FATES WARNING at the forefront of a new breed of progressively minded heaviness that would eventually explode into arena-bothering ubiquity with DREAM THEATER and their virtuoso peers. In particular, "Transcendence" remains one of the greatest, melodic metal albums of the '80s, and a benchmark for anyone hoping to inject their classic, traditional tropes with a jolting dose of imagination.

Unfortunately, subsequent albums singularly failed to maintain that initial momentum, and after the bluesy, grunge-era indulgence of 1991's "Strange and Beautiful" and, sometime later, the conceptual detour of "Astronomica" (1999),CRIMSON GLORY no longer had a strong identity to guide them forward. Admittedly, things did look a lot more promising when the band reconvened with current QUEENSRYCHE frontman Todd La Torre taking over the yawning chasm left by sadly departed frontman Midnight, whose charisma had been central to their early success, but after only three years of retrospective gigging (focusing almost entirely on the first two albums),that partial reunion seemed to fizzle out, without much hope of a bona fide comeback.

But over a decade on from that supposed last hurrah, CRIMSON GLORY are back with a vengeance. They have a new singer, Travis Wills, who can hit all the high notes with immense strength and style, and a new guitarist, Mark Borgmeyer, who replaces founder member Jon Drenning, and who clearly has done the necessary background study to bring this band back to the musical prowess of their most adored, "Transcendence"-era incarnation. "Chasing The Hydra" arrives 27 years after the bloated disappointment of "Astronomica", and does everything it can to restore its creators to their rightful position as one of America's most influential and classy bands. Fit to burst with renewed confidence and full of songs that honor the past without bypassing the need to make something exciting and new, this is such a resounding return to vintage form that it may make you wonder why they didn't get their act together a lot sooner.

All such concerns melt away when these songs are blasting from the speakers, however. "Redden The Sun" is the perfect, freshly tooled doorway into CRIMSON GLORY's reconstructed musical world, with incisive riffs and multiple layers of melody and intrigue, just like the old days but bigger, shinier and heavier. Recent singles "Chasing The Hydra" and "Triskaideka" are gleaming throwbacks to the late '80s, but with more than enough modern power underscoring their effortless complexity. Deeper cuts like ornate epic "Angel In My Nightmare", the brooding and goth-hued "Beyond The Unknown", and the magnificent, gritty savagery of "Pearls Of Dust" prove that the progressive parts of their sound are still fundamental to the whole, and if "Indelible Ashes" isn't the finest CRIMSON GLORY song since 1988: well, it is and unquestionably so.

It is fantastic to have them back, wonderful to hear them firing on every available cylinder, and very exciting to contemplate a full-scale return to action. "Chasing The Hydra" is absolutely the album they should have made after "Transcendence", but there is no time like the present for sweeping away those lost years and making a brand new, musically exceptional start. Long may this resurrection bear such exemplary fruit.