Cherry Red [Release date 21/03/25]

The Cherry Red label is currently on a run of highly compelling Heavy Metal reissues.

We’ve had Wrath, Tigertailz, Barren Cross in only the last month, and very recently, the superb Vision Of Disorder.

This run continues with Crimson Glory, an American Power/Pure/Prog Metal band, who suffered the usual revolving door band membership shenanigans that afflict almost all bands. Life kept getting in the way.

And yet they released two outstandingly good Metal albums and an ok one.

CD1 : Crimson Glory (1986)
CD2 : Transcendence (1988)
CD3 : Strange And Beautiful (1991)

Once seen, never forgotten. The band wore metal masks in order to present a memorable identity to the public. But the overheated Halloween effect led to them being binned by the time of Transcendence.

Much mention is made of the band’s vocalist, the singer with only one name, Midnight. No surprise. His banshee wail gave the band all the recognition it needed. Add to that Ben Jackson’s and Jon Drenning’s highly melodic guitar interplay, and we had a band set on cultivating their own sound.

They got mentioned in the same breath as Fates Warning and Queensryche, but in reality showed no evidence of being anything other than a straight up Power Metal band.

Listen to ‘Valhalla’ and ‘Azrael’ – and maybe ‘Angels Of War’ – to be convinced.

The first two albums got consistent 4 out of 5 star reviews in the music media.

Having drawn up their own metal boundaries on the debut, they stay well inside those limits on follow up, Transcendence.

This was the one. The band had perfected the Crimson Glory sound… Power metal with occasional Prog detailing. ‘Lady Of Winter’ and ‘Red Sharks’ show it best.

The music media’s inability to pigeonhole the band’s sound actually widened their appeal.

It put them on the cover of Kerrang, and got them tours with Queensryche and Anthrax. It won them many awards, especially in their native state of Florida.

While we all claim to embrace change, the band’s fans took a different view. The replacement of vocalist, Midnight, with David Van Landing, and a distinct change of direction into dancing-in-the-dust rhythms and hard rock guitar grooves on third album, Strange and Beautiful, didn’t go down particularly well.

And yet… ‘Promise Land’ and the Poison-esque ‘Song For Angels’ weave those different strands into a very powerful heavy metal argument.

But, it was not to be.

In an all too familiar plotline … the band soon dissolved and the members moved off to pursue new opportunities.

They reformed in 1999 to release a fourth album, Astronomica, but the magic was gone and the band broke up once again. ***

Review by Brian McGowan

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Power Plays w/c 16 June 2025

LOVE NOR MONEY Blood Will Tell (Golden Robot Records)
DISCIPLES OF VERITY Break The Cycle (TLG/Zoid)
BLACKLIST UNION Up In Smoke (BLU Records)
ANDY AND THE ROCKETS Cyanide (Valley Music Delapop)
ARCHERS Crooked Smile (SBG Records)
ZETRA So (Nuclear Blast)
HOLLOW SOULS Shotgun (indie)

Featured Albums w/c 16 June 2025

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003 – 2024 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003 – 2024 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003 – 2024 (Singer Songwriter)

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