Artist: CRIMSON GLORY
Album: STRANGE AND BEAUTIFUL REISSUE (DIGI)

Year: 1991/ 2006
EAN/UPS: 5907785028685
Media type: CD

Crimson Glory’s origin reaches all the way to the 80’s, when the band emerged with a dazzling combination of early Queensryche style, fascinating
guitar melodies and distinctive, emotive vocals. The line-up, consisting of Ben Jackson (guitars), Jon Drenning (guitars), Jeff Lords (bass), Dana Burnell (drums) and Midnight (vocals) recorded two albums – Crimson Glory and Transcendence, both bringing the band a large number of devoted
fans. The unique musical mixture, followed by a characteristic image (all band members wore silver masks) marked the beginning of a prog metal legend. But the band did not wish to be captivated in only one musical style.

With their third album, Crimson Glory reached far beyond simple power metal musicianship, replacing it with complex, precise songwriting, controversial both in sound and structure. Strange and Beautiful turned out as an epic musical experience, filled with elements borrowed from prog metal, as well as blues and hard rock. The album was a definite turn in the group’s career, and a risky move as well – how often do you meet a band that in the peak of its popularity changes its style so drastically?

Strange and Beautiful was a milestone for Crimson Glory, but it wasn’t achieved without compromises. Before the recording of this album, Ben Jackson and Dana Burnell left the band, which decided to keep playing without the second guitar. The drum section was soon filled by Ravi Jakhotia. As Jon Drenning said in an interview shortly after the release of Strange and Beautiful, “Ravi’s from India and he’s an outstanding drummer. He gave us a totally new idea of rhythm. And that’s what irritated me the most on our earlier records . Everything sounded too clinically smooth, it was all obvious from the beginning. The new record is far more spontaneous in that department, more improvised”. Drenning commented on the controversial style-change as follows: “No, we are not going to be a typical band that’ll keep playing metal music about dragons and such ables. It’s been three years since we recorded our last album. This effects the band and its musical taste. Every artist tries to widen his horizons, to evolve all the time”. Thus is the reason why Crimson Glory softened its sound and chose a more approachable path: “We wanted to record a strong, hard rock album. I think we still play heavy rock music, but we don’t want the heavy metal label to be forever attached to us”. But not only the music has changed, the lyrics are completely different as well: “Now we concentrate on physical depth. I mean the darker side of sex. Pure, animalistic love and desire”. The album contains eleven tracks, all dripping with sensuality and sexual energy. Midnight’s lyrics are both personal and universal, referring to the most intimate matters seen through the eyes of a whole society. But gladly the end has not reached Crimson Glory. Although after Strange And Beautiful the band did split up, in 1999 Astronomica was released, introducing new singer Wade Black. Recently the group begun planning a comeback with the original line-up to create their best album ever. What better occasion to remind the fans one of the band’s best achievements and one of the most thrilling prog-oriented albums ever to be released.…

TRACKLIST CD:

1. Strange and beautiful
2. Promise land
3. Love and dreams
4. The chant
5. Dance on fire
6. Song for angels
7. In the mood
8. Starchamber
9. Deep inside your heart
10. Make you love me
11. Far away