Way back in the bygone days of 2008, the folks at Metal Mind Productions began re-issuing classic Roadrunner Records releases as limited edition numbered imports. They generally released about “2,000” of them and once they were gone they were gone. There was no way that a fan was going to get another copy unless they found someone selling them on eBay or perhaps in some sort of brick and mortar close out sale. Fast forward to the “now”, the folks at Metalville are re-issuing many of these classics under a “Roadrunner Archive” banner and one such release is the sophomore album by Crimson Glory called “Transcendance”. Having reviewed this item already and only using a digital stream to compose my thoughts about it, I found my head in the same place about the album so I’m repeating that review since it completely applies for it.
If there was ever an album that I was dying to find a remaster done for then it would most certainly be Crimson Glory’s sophomore release “Transcendence”. Originally released by Roadrunner Records in 1988 this album is nothing less than a Progressive Metal masterpiece from beginning to end, and when Metal Mind Productions announced their plans on reissuing it I was very excited to say the least. The Florida band had been impressing fans of Progressive Metal for a couple of years now with an intense musical and visual presentation that began with their self titled debut album “Crimson Glory”. The band sported big hair and instruments and wore silver masks to conceal their faces but beyond the imagery we found out just how good they could play and it made the debut one of the strongest of its kind for the day. “Transcendence” takes us to the next logical step as the bands explorations into the realms that they first presented us with on their self-titled album grow ever more interesting and involved. The album, while musically along the same lines as their first (thought perhaps a little more locked in and melodic), found one major change in their visuals. As the early photos demonstrate, the band wore full face silver masks and only singer Midnight had his mouth exposed in order to sing with more ease than having it covered. By the time “Transcendence” was released the band had discovered that performing with faces covered was quite hot and difficult to do so they would move to donning half face masks that were very reminiscent of something out of the Phantom of the Opera. Each of these new masks was slightly different from each other and with it I felt that it added new levels of drama to them as opposed to taking any of it away. Thinking back on the original album I remembered that I never owned this release on vinyl and instead had only been able to find it on cassette tape back in the day and according to research it had never been on CD until around 2001. Continue reading “Transcendence” (reissue) by Crimson Glory→
Artist: Crimson Glory Title: “In Dark Places” Boxed Set Label: Metal Mind Productions Release Date: 10/5/2010 Genre: Melodic Progressive Metal Rating: 5/5
Perhaps someone is paying attention to the words that I am writing down for the website and I say this based on my closing statement in the original review of Crimson Glory’s remastered “Transcendence” album. As I finalized my thoughts on the crushing release I thought aloud saying “these special edition reissues are nice but I think that a comprehensive boxed collection would be perfect since there were only four albums in total”. That being said, I proudly announce that a career comprehensive boxed set of all the four Crimson Glory albums is now available with “In Dark Places – 1986-2000” and it is something very worthy of your hard earned dollar. Before I move deeper into my overview of this amazing collection I wanted to guide those newer and perhaps even younger fans of the Power Metal side about what kind of band Crimson Glory actually was. Musically there was a lot going on with them and visually the stunned the senses with mystical garb and face concealing silver masks. The songs were powerful and well put together while their singer was nothing less than enigmatic. His name was Midnight and he led the band for three albums before departing and while they would eventually continue without him, it was never quite the same for their fan base. “In Dark Places” celebrates the entire sum body of work that the band did and gives it to you in a beautiful package. PiercingMetal.com reviewed the remasters when they first came out and since our thoughts about each release are pretty much the same, we edited those texts only slightly and have re-presented them here. Enjoy. Continue reading “In Dark Places” Boxed Set by Crimson Glory→
On July 8th 2009 the Metal Legions learned about the passing of Midnight aka John Patrick McDonald Jr. from liver and kidney failure – the singer was 47 years old. From 1986 through 1991, Midnight was the lead singer for the Progressive Metal powerhouse Crimson Glory and while a member of the band he was always a dramatic and enigmatic presence on top of an incredibly powerful vocalist. During the bands early years, he and his band mates wore unique silver face masks that made them look like some kind of mystical Phantom Of The Opera kind of group. Together with Crimson Glory, Midnight recorded the self-titled debut Crimson Glory, Transcendence, and Strange & Beautiful, the latter release finding the band unmasked and delivering a very different kind of Metal than they first came out gunning with. The album would be the last one featuring Midnight on vocals and he would be replaced by Wade Black who did their Astronomica CD and got the band back into the business of Progressive Metal. Midnight would appear with his former band at a Festival in 2004 for a brief acoustic set, and while plans for a larger scale reunion were planned – outside of one show in Greece in 2006 this would not take and he would again be gone from the lineup in 2007 never to return. This was a shame since many fans were looking forward to this potentially happening. Continue reading John Patrick McDonald Jr. aka Midnight (formerly of Crimson Glory) Has Died (1962-2009)→
iArtist: Crimson Glory Title: “Transcendence” (reissue/remaster) Label: Metal Mind Productions Release Date: 4/15/2008 Genre: Progressive Metal Rating: 5/5
If there was ever an album that I was dying to find a remaster done for then it would most certainly be Crimson Glory’s sophomore release “Transcendence”. Originally released by Roadrunner Records in 1988 this album is nothing less than a Progressive Metal masterpiece from beginning to end, and when Metal Mind Productions announced their plans on reissuing it I was very excited to say the least. The Florida band had been impressing fans of Progressive Metal for a couple of years now with an intense musical and visual presentation that began with their self titled debut album “Crimson Glory”. The band sported big hair and instruments and wore silver masks to conceal their faces but beyond the imagery we found out just how good they could play and it made the debut one of the strongest of its kind for the day. “Transcendence” takes us to the next logical step as the bands explorations into the realms that they first presented us with on their self-titled album grow ever more interesting and involved. The album, while musically along the same lines as their first (thought perhaps a little more locked in and melodic), found one major change in their visuals. As the early photos demonstrate, the band wore full face silver masks and only singer Midnight had his mouth exposed in order to sing with more ease than having it covered. By the time “Transcendence” was released the band had discovered that performing with faces covered was quite hot and difficult to do so they would move to donning half face masks that were very reminiscent of something out of the Phantom of the Opera. Each of these new masks was slightly different from each other and with it I felt that it added new levels of drama to them as opposed to taking any of it away. Thinking back on the original album I remembered that I never owned this release on vinyl and instead had only been able to find it on cassette tape back in the day and according to research it had never been on CD until around 2001. Continue reading “Transcendence” (reissue) by Crimson Glory→
