Whenever we're comparing a band to the US style of power/prog metal then we'll often refer to Queensyche, Fates Warning, Dream Theater and Crimson Glory.
Having formed in 1983 they are seminal and influential band in the history of American progressive metal. As with many bands from this time there been gaps between records, the band pretty much ceasing activity on 2013 but with Chasing The Hydra, Crimson Glory return with their first new music in 26 years.
The band still features 3/5 of their classic line up with Jeff Lords (bass), Ben Jackson (rhythm guitar) and Dana Burnell (drums) still keeping the Crimson Glory flag flying with the off time grooves of Redden The Sun and Indelible Ashes, displaying that they've maintained their heaviness after all these years. However they aren't scared to play around as Beyond The Unknown puts Faith No More synths/bass drops with 80's street metal
Now while their last studio album features Wade Black (Leatherwolf) and they had Todd La Torre as touring singer since then, really it's original vocalist Midnight, who passed away in 2009, that any new vocalists will be compared too and Travis Wills is the perfect fit with that piercing histrionic high pitch that he shared with Midnight and Geoff Tate, adding the theatricality to Angel In My Nightmares and emotion to Broken Together.
Joining him as part new boys is lead guitarist Mark "Borgy" Borgmeyer who plays with that flair and fire you'd want from them on Armor Against Fate and the thrashy closer Triskaideka. With renewed energy but moulded by the same old hands, Chasing The Hydra, sounds like they haven't been away. Crimson Glory are legends, inspirations and still on top of their game! 9/10
The Cosmic Dead - Beyond The Beyond (Heavy Psych Sounds)
Prepare to fall into a trance with the 10th studio record from Glasgow band The Cosmic Dead. Like a musical Derren Brown, you will lose all notion of self and time when you press play as the band pull you into their black hole of psychedelic space rock to explore the furthest reaches of the universe.
Recommended when you have a slipped disc and are on strong pain killers like have been for the last few weeks, Beyond The Beyond, features four gargantuan slabs of riffage that gradually unfurls into mind bending brilliance. The urgency of their previous album is all but gone, replaced by slithering Middles Eastern rhythms that wouldn't be out of place in the Dune film series.
The wah is all over this record, every member playing it to create a cacophony of feedback and insistent riffage, it's especially prominent on the persistent blissed out grooves coming from Omar Aborida who handles bass and guitar, connecting both as the main rhythm muscle of this cosmic engine. Driven ever forward into a starless sky by the powerhouse percussion of Tommy Duffin.
Locked in and setting a course for uncharted territory they are the rudder of this psychedelic spaceship creating the foundations for Luigi Pasquini's swirling synth vortexes, making your head spin with their layers of electronic wonder as they make way for the lost ancient melodies of Calum Calderwood's fiddle, a superb addition to this huge noise cutting through with that tone that is often only heard in orchestras and folk bands.
Beyond The Beyond is a cacophonous record from a band who have no use for vocals, you're not supposed to understand it, you're supposed to feel it, a primal, bottom of your guts kind of sound that speaks to you like the earliest forms of tribal noise making. The Cosmic Dead go Beyond The Beyond with album 10, hitch a ride on their cosmic journey! 9/10
The Paradox Twin - A Romance Of Many Directions (White Star Records)
There's pretty decent odds that if an album comes via White Star Records, the label set up bud John Mitchell and Chris Hillman, I'll probably like it. Most of the time it'll be a band who languish in the modern emotive prog of the bands that Mitchell himself has been a part of, the kind where pop and prog mix for anthemic emotional choruses over technically minded melodic rocking.
The Paradox Twin have been on the label since it was founded and have released two albums previously to this gaining critical and fan acclaim. Their music is always conceptual, spring from the creative mind of Danny Sorrell (writer/vocals/guitars/keys) who approaches the progressive sound with darker style than most, inspired by 80's goth bands on Operator, as much as 70's prog dinosaurs with If Else.
There's a dark romance element to this album for sure, as the concept blurs the lines between real and digital worlds, strongly focussed on themes of isolation and the power of digital immersion, thus the synthwave moments on Null The System and My Main Function, but it's a record that comes from a very real place for Sorrell who has fought a lot of battles in the making of this record, channelling them into the most introspective album yet.
Joining Danny here are Graham Brown on drums and Sarah Bayley adding atmospheric co-lead vocals to counterpoint and collide, swelling out the cinematic elements of the band very well with John Mitchell's mix and master giving everything life while his bass playing locks the rhythms down on the heavier end of things such as Pixel Shader, though he can't resist a cheeky guitar solo on the final track.
A Romance Of Many Directions is yet another concept record from The Paradox Twin, a band who understand what a concept piece is and crates music unafraid of genre constraints to match the story they're trying to tell. Another hit for White Star Records. 9/10
The band still features 3/5 of their classic line up with Jeff Lords (bass), Ben Jackson (rhythm guitar) and Dana Burnell (drums) still keeping the Crimson Glory flag flying with the off time grooves of Redden The Sun and Indelible Ashes, displaying that they've maintained their heaviness after all these years. However they aren't scared to play around as Beyond The Unknown puts Faith No More synths/bass drops with 80's street metal
Now while their last studio album features Wade Black (Leatherwolf) and they had Todd La Torre as touring singer since then, really it's original vocalist Midnight, who passed away in 2009, that any new vocalists will be compared too and Travis Wills is the perfect fit with that piercing histrionic high pitch that he shared with Midnight and Geoff Tate, adding the theatricality to Angel In My Nightmares and emotion to Broken Together.
Joining him as part new boys is lead guitarist Mark "Borgy" Borgmeyer who plays with that flair and fire you'd want from them on Armor Against Fate and the thrashy closer Triskaideka. With renewed energy but moulded by the same old hands, Chasing The Hydra, sounds like they haven't been away. Crimson Glory are legends, inspirations and still on top of their game! 9/10
The Cosmic Dead - Beyond The Beyond (Heavy Psych Sounds)
Prepare to fall into a trance with the 10th studio record from Glasgow band The Cosmic Dead. Like a musical Derren Brown, you will lose all notion of self and time when you press play as the band pull you into their black hole of psychedelic space rock to explore the furthest reaches of the universe.
Recommended when you have a slipped disc and are on strong pain killers like have been for the last few weeks, Beyond The Beyond, features four gargantuan slabs of riffage that gradually unfurls into mind bending brilliance. The urgency of their previous album is all but gone, replaced by slithering Middles Eastern rhythms that wouldn't be out of place in the Dune film series.
The wah is all over this record, every member playing it to create a cacophony of feedback and insistent riffage, it's especially prominent on the persistent blissed out grooves coming from Omar Aborida who handles bass and guitar, connecting both as the main rhythm muscle of this cosmic engine. Driven ever forward into a starless sky by the powerhouse percussion of Tommy Duffin.
Locked in and setting a course for uncharted territory they are the rudder of this psychedelic spaceship creating the foundations for Luigi Pasquini's swirling synth vortexes, making your head spin with their layers of electronic wonder as they make way for the lost ancient melodies of Calum Calderwood's fiddle, a superb addition to this huge noise cutting through with that tone that is often only heard in orchestras and folk bands.
Beyond The Beyond is a cacophonous record from a band who have no use for vocals, you're not supposed to understand it, you're supposed to feel it, a primal, bottom of your guts kind of sound that speaks to you like the earliest forms of tribal noise making. The Cosmic Dead go Beyond The Beyond with album 10, hitch a ride on their cosmic journey! 9/10
The Paradox Twin - A Romance Of Many Directions (White Star Records)
There's pretty decent odds that if an album comes via White Star Records, the label set up bud John Mitchell and Chris Hillman, I'll probably like it. Most of the time it'll be a band who languish in the modern emotive prog of the bands that Mitchell himself has been a part of, the kind where pop and prog mix for anthemic emotional choruses over technically minded melodic rocking.
The Paradox Twin have been on the label since it was founded and have released two albums previously to this gaining critical and fan acclaim. Their music is always conceptual, spring from the creative mind of Danny Sorrell (writer/vocals/guitars/keys) who approaches the progressive sound with darker style than most, inspired by 80's goth bands on Operator, as much as 70's prog dinosaurs with If Else.
There's a dark romance element to this album for sure, as the concept blurs the lines between real and digital worlds, strongly focussed on themes of isolation and the power of digital immersion, thus the synthwave moments on Null The System and My Main Function, but it's a record that comes from a very real place for Sorrell who has fought a lot of battles in the making of this record, channelling them into the most introspective album yet.
Joining Danny here are Graham Brown on drums and Sarah Bayley adding atmospheric co-lead vocals to counterpoint and collide, swelling out the cinematic elements of the band very well with John Mitchell's mix and master giving everything life while his bass playing locks the rhythms down on the heavier end of things such as Pixel Shader, though he can't resist a cheeky guitar solo on the final track.
A Romance Of Many Directions is yet another concept record from The Paradox Twin, a band who understand what a concept piece is and crates music unafraid of genre constraints to match the story they're trying to tell. Another hit for White Star Records. 9/10
Valyear - An Invitation To Chaos (SelfMadeRecords LLC)
Formed by Toronto based vocalist Chad Valyear, Valyear like many of the best alt metal bands take their name from the singer but are a fully fledged band featuring Geoff Wilson (guitars), Joe Petralia (bass), and Mane Rebeiro (drums) along with Chad.
So yeah I mentioned alt metal there and man, if you love Alice In Chains fused with some Faith No More, or Stone Temple Pilots joined by Godsmack then you'll want to accept this Invitation To Chaos, however be warned that Valyear sound an awful lot like these bands, mirroring the swagger. The riffs and the vocals phrasings at every moment possible, so if you have no time for that alt-metal/grunge sound you won't get much out of this second album.
Now as the band are based around their singer, it's his band basically, but I'm not the biggest fan of his voice if I'm honest, more so when he shouts, the sneering lows are decent, add to this that the riffs are just a little bit basic and don't do much for me either, Valyear are band I may not be returning too.
However like I said not much chance of losing the guy who formed the band so this is definitely my problem, so I suggest you give it a go if it sounds like your thing. 5/10
Formed by Toronto based vocalist Chad Valyear, Valyear like many of the best alt metal bands take their name from the singer but are a fully fledged band featuring Geoff Wilson (guitars), Joe Petralia (bass), and Mane Rebeiro (drums) along with Chad.
So yeah I mentioned alt metal there and man, if you love Alice In Chains fused with some Faith No More, or Stone Temple Pilots joined by Godsmack then you'll want to accept this Invitation To Chaos, however be warned that Valyear sound an awful lot like these bands, mirroring the swagger. The riffs and the vocals phrasings at every moment possible, so if you have no time for that alt-metal/grunge sound you won't get much out of this second album.
Now as the band are based around their singer, it's his band basically, but I'm not the biggest fan of his voice if I'm honest, more so when he shouts, the sneering lows are decent, add to this that the riffs are just a little bit basic and don't do much for me either, Valyear are band I may not be returning too.
However like I said not much chance of losing the guy who formed the band so this is definitely my problem, so I suggest you give it a go if it sounds like your thing. 5/10
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