- Country: USA
- Style: Progressive Metal / US Power Metal
- Label: BraveWords Records
- Release date: 17 April 2026
There are comebacks, and then there is a band that has been away so long that people who bought Transcendence on its release in 1988 now have grandchildren. Crimson Glory came out of Sarasota, Florida in 1983 and, alongside Queensrÿche and Fates Warning, helped define what American progressive metal sounded like before Dream Theater gave it a textbook. Chasing the Hydra is their first studio album since Astronomica in 1999.
A lot has gone missing on the way. Midnight, whose voice was the band’s signature, died in 2009, and founding guitarist Jon Drenning is no longer in the ranks. Ben Jackson, Jeff Lords and Dana Burnell carry the original flame, joined by singer Travis Wills and guitarist Mark Borgmeyer. Borgmeyer is the one filling the spot Drenning left.
What strikes me first is that this does not sound like a heritage act playing it safe. The songs refuse the obvious verse-chorus route, riffs change direction mid-sentence and Lords’ bass sits high in a clear, natural mix. “Broken Together” and “Beyond the Unknown” are the moments where the old elegance and the new hunger line up, and the closing “Triskaideka” has the kind of patience the band showed on Strange and Beautiful.
The trouble is memory. Nine tracks pass by and surprisingly few choruses stay behind. Wills is a capable, wide-ranging singer, but he sometimes pushes into the upper register when the song only asked for weight, and the comparisons with Midnight will follow him whether that is fair or not. Several pieces feel built from good parts rather than written as wholes, which is a strange flaw for a band once praised for exactly the opposite.
So where does it sit? Below the first two records, naturally, and on a par with the underrated Astronomica. For a group that spent a quarter of a century as a cult memory, that is a respectable place to stand. Longtime fans will find enough of the old atmosphere to justify the wait; newcomers should still start with 1988.
Best tracks:
Broken Together
Beyond The Unknown
Angel In My Nightmare
Triskaideka
Author’s rating: 6/10
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