Artwork by: Justice Mitchell

Style: Progressive Metal, Power Metal (Clean Vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Queensrÿche, early Kamelot, Judas Priest, Fates Warning
Country: United States (Florida)
Release date: 17 April 2026

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Coming back to something after stepping away often puts me in conversation with a particularly immediate, if not always warranted, set of fears. Will I remember how to do The Thing^TM? Have I lost the ability to even try? What if I’m not as good as I used to be? Whether creatively or professionally, I’ve encountered this unpleasant trepidation. Once, I took a week off work—one week—only to return and stare at my computer in abject horror as I tried to recall processes I’d spent years committing to muscle memory. Or whenever I return to miniature painting after a long hiatus, I can’t help but feel like there’s an immense wall for me to climb to gain back the skills I’d let wane in the intervening span. Every prior finished work exists to remind me of a moment I’ll never recapture again.¹

All this is to say, I wonder if Crimson Glory felt any of the above trepidation when they emerged from the golden dusts of time with their fifth LP, Chasing the Hydra, in tow—their first release in twenty-seven years. Arriving in 1986 with a self-titled debut, the Floridian power-proggers showcased a flair for infectious riffcraft, a smart eye for composition (ie, not letting prog wankery get in the way of a good song), and an absolutely unhinged and captivating vocal performance by way of the late Midnight²—who, I can safely say, rivaled Queensrÿche’s Geoff Tate in his prime, and easily surpassed him as both bands forded the waters of the late 90s. The band would level up considerably with the seminal Transcendence, the crowning jewel in a discography that otherwise struggled to shine in the eyes of the people. Follow-ups saw Crimson Glory incorporate aspects of sleaze metal (the swaggering Slaughter-core of 1991’s Strange and Beautiful), and later folding that machismo into a more metallic release a’la Astronomica (1999), which felt like some strange synthesis of Savatage, Leatherwolf, and Iron Maiden whipped through the prism of Pull-era Winger.³ In their initial four-album run, Crimson Glory revealed a willingness to adapt to their environment, and largely had the talent to make it work.⁴ Surprisingly, the lineup remains largely unchanged aside from newcomers Travis Wills (vocals) and Mark Borgmeyer (guitars, replacing founding guitarist Jon Drenning). However, time takes from all of us, and yesteryear’s talent is no guarantee of today’s. Does Crimson Glory still have the acuity to take down this hydra? Or is this a quest better left to younger men?

To my surprise, Crimson Glory stepped into 2026 sounding far more dexterous and adventurous than I would’ve ever expected. More often than not, an elder band’s modern-day output runs the risk of being sapped of the creativity and chutzpah that made them exciting in their early days, entropy eroding down a once lively act to a driftwood husk feebly grasping at former glories. Yet on Chasing the Hydra, Crimson Glory have conjured something akin to Mark Vanderbilt-era Kamelot crossed with modern Queensrÿche. Vocalist Wills strikes a similar chord to Todd La Torre with his bendy, piercing falsettos and lows, while instrumentally the band frequently evince the scrappiness of Vanderbilt’s Kamelot and the more dramatic, showy compositional work found across ‘Rÿche’s Condition Human. Ben Jackson and Borgmeyer know how to drive a song, utilizing pace-setting chugs and power-infused harmonies, and the solo work is oft-vibrant and well-implemented. Dana Burnell’s kitwork is deft, Jeff Lords’ bass is punchy and alive, and together they create a rock-solid foundation for the rest of their bandmates to act upon. Also, the production is shockingly good, every instrument squared away nicely, and the bass consistently available in the mix. Finally, a metal album unafraid of the low-end.

However, these fleet-footed chasers stumble in ways big and small across Chasing the Hydra that threaten to snatch defeat from the many-headed jaws of victory. The most immediate to my ears is that, for all the well-executed riffage and sparking solos, the compositions struggle to mine anything particularly hooky from the results. There are cool moments to be had, like the spidery guitarwork across “Indelible Ashes” and how it harmonizes with Wills’ vocals in the chorus, the bouncy guitar-bass combo on “Beyond the Unknown”, or all of “Triskaideka”, but aside from these and a few other cuts, much of Chasing the Hydra evades my ears. There’s a fragmentary sense to many of the compositions, a beguiling lack of cohesion that haunts the works like a spectre—hard to pinpoint but it’s there, like a cold gust on your neck in an otherwise airtight room. But the most disruptive element unfortunately arrives in the form of Wills’ vocals, which suffer frequently from bouts of overextension and a perplexing friction with the lockstep of the instrumentation—an issue which peeks above the waves on opener “Redden the Sun” and crops up time and again across the album to mar otherwise decent tracks like “Chasing the Hydra”, “Broken Together”, and “Pearls of Dust”. When everything locks together, you get “Indelible Ashes”, “Beyond the Unknown”, and the aforementioned “Triskaideka”, absolute wreckers that highlight Crimson Glory’s ability to carve a fresh path for themselves in a scene they once helped originate.

Returning to the fold after such a lengthy hiatus is no mean feat; to do so while delivering material that sounds refreshed and not simply like half-baked leftovers of better albums is even more impressive. Crimson Glory have waded into these heavy metal waters with armor on and steel drawn, ready to spill the blood of the beast. Like modern Judas Priest, they’ve doled out an offering that most, I think, would’ve reasonably assumed well beyond their capability. Crimson Glory have the spark, but unlike Priest, they lack the sharp execution that’s endeared fans to Halford and Co’s current-day offerings. Regardless, I hope Crimson Glory are here to stay. Wills is a talented vocalist who’s perfect for this style of power-prog, and if he (and the band) can drop an album full of honed gems like “Triskaideka” and “Beyond the Unknown”, then they may have the Firepower necessary to annihilate any and all expectations next time around. For now though? These veterans got some good hits in, but the hydra lives to fight another day.

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Recommended tracks: Broken Together, Indelible Ashes, Beyond the Unknown, Triskaideka
You may also like: Lethal, Vicious Rumors, Heir Apparent, Starborn
Final verdict: 6/10

Related links: Official Website | Facebook

Label: BraveWords Records

Crimson Glory is:
– Jeff Lords (bass)
– Dana Burnell (drums)
– Ben Jackson (guitars)
– Mark Borgmeyer (guitars)
– Travis Wills (vocals)

1. Does that stop me from putting paint to plastic? No, but it’s still a thought I contend with. ↩︎
2. He sadly passed away in 2009. RIP. ↩︎
3. That may sound like a slight, but it’s not, I assure you. Pull (1993) is a fantastic record. Also, Steve Wacholz (Savatage) and Wade Black (future Leatherwolf singer) performed on Astronomica, so, yeah. ↩︎
4. General consensus around the band’s 90s output is that it’s either middling or forgettable, but I’ll respectfully disagree. ↩︎