Crimson Glory-Crimson Glory (1986)

[Franconia]

Ah, Crimson Glory. How can I possibly enjoy this? It's a relatively underground metal album with barely over a thousand ratings and a high average. The band's name is 'Crimson Glory', for God's sake. It sounds cheesy as hell before even looking at the names of the songs. "Dragon Lady"? "Valhalla"? "Queen of the Masquerade"? Really? How can it possibly be good? It's described as progressive metal and power metal with epic, mythological, and fantasy lyrics. The album cover looks like a ripoff of Stained Class, which is one of my favorite albums of all time. Oh, alright, I'll check it out I guess.

Yeah, that's pretty much what went through my head before I decided to click the "Play" button a few months ago. Before I start actually reviewing, I'd like to talk about its genre. I don't know why progressive metal and power metal are secondary genres. There's nothing remotely progressive about this music in terms of structure and composition and nothing resembles power metal. The most prog metal-esque aspect is Midnight's vocals, but nothing about this music really progresses. 

This is a near-perfect album that absolutely warrants a 5-star rating. Each song is simply amazing, packed with energetic melodies, thick riffs and great guitar solos. No song is that similar to the previous one and they manage to pack in 8 songs in 39 minutes that don't drag in the slightest and provide fresh blood each time around. Now, I've listened to a different version of the album from the primary one here, with a different tracklist and 2 bonus tracks, so I'm going to narrate from that perspective but ignore the 2 bonus tracks. I can't find the version I listened to on this site.

"Mayday" is one of the greatest album openers and it's a killer hook on the audience. I mean, the chorus is fun as hell to sing along to and it's memorable, and it's got a rapid and phenomenal riff. Midnight showcases his vocal abilities to the audience, with his wide range and his ability to hit any high note easily. It's extremely energetic and a perfect song. Following up on that energetic atmosphere is "Queen of the Masquerade", which is one of the band's most well-known songs. It's perfect and has one of the most memorable choruses, and a pretty distinct riff. "Valhalla" is one of the 'weaker' songs on here, but it's still excellent and continues this energy and heavy riffage. And then "Azrael" closes the first side up in one of the greatest ways possible. It starts off gloomy and kind of like a longer song by Iron Maiden during the same time period, but it suddenly disrupts into a heavy riff with loaded energy to kill that gloomy atmosphere. They took inspiration from Iron Maiden, among others, but made very original and creative songs. But yeah, it's the most Maiden-esque track on here by far. It's still an amazing song and probably my 2nd favorite on the album. 

Side B is very consistent and doesn't even hint at deterioration and weakness. All 4 songs are excellent and this energetic and epic-not a word I enjoy describing music that I like-atmosphere flows effortlessly. "Dragon Lady" is another weaker song but still enjoyable and remarkable nonetheless, it just stands weak juxtaposed with "Lost Reflection" and coming off of the epic "Azrael". Kind of like that track, it starts off moody and slow with just acoustic guitars and some symphonic effects. It goes like that for a while before breaking out into rapid riffage and harmonies out of the blue, in a transition even less smooth and more urgent than "Azrael". This is another amazing song but my biggest complaint is that it stays in this acoustic section for too long and even with that rapid riffage, it doesn't branch out like it has the opportunity to, but it's still one of the best songs on here. "Heart of Steel" is pretty good and I don't get why people undermine it, it's not weak in any way and excellent. "Angels of War" is my favorite off of this album and has been one of my favorites of the band for a while. It's perfect, carried with superb riffage, perfect harmonies, and an amazing solo. It's sad that it's the final track on that version because after experiencing that, you crave more but it ends.

The album's strong parts come from the great, and I mean great, harmonies and songwriting from the band. This was just their debut album and Crimson Glory already displayed a level of craftmanship, between writing new, innovative, and juicy riffs, great solos (although the pinch harmonics could've been used a tad bit less), and excellent compositions that constantly engaged the audience and never once dragged, that the vast majority of metal bands haven't came close to mastering, even with decades under their belts. It's a shame the band never reached a higher level after this, although Transcendence was pretty good, because this level of energy, genuine passion for music, and creativity could've landed them above vastly overrated and overhyped progressive metal and power metal bands like Dream Theater and Blind Guardian in the 1990s. This is easily one of the greatest heavy metal albums out there and, although not thrash by any stretch of the means, one of the best metal albums to come out of 1986.

 

This comes from my review on RateYourMusic, written June 15th, 2018. Click here to see my other reviews.