Search - Glass Hammer :: The Inconsolable Secret

The Quest For Yes

G-Dexter | Lakewood, NY United States | 09/14/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I like Glass Hammer a lot. I own all of their studio albums and they see frequent rotation in my weekly/monthly play list. THE INCONSOLIBLE SECRET is an epic, two disc behemoth of a work that continues their long standing tradition of making theme driven albums.



Again inspired by grand tales of mythology and Authurian legend, this time co-founders Steve Babb and Fred Schendel have weaved a story of knights and a Lady, enchanted kingdoms, love and war. If not directly taken from Alfred Lord Tennison's THE LADY OF SHALLOT, it is certainly inspired by the epic poem. So, is this a rock opera, a concept album, a soundtrack? All of the above, sort of.



The music is heavily keyboard driven much in the style of Keith Emerson and Rick Wakeman. It is further enhanced with tasty guitar licks, solid bass lines, beautiful choral arrangements, and even some great orchestral passages. The lead male vocals are pleasant but not distinctive - lacking the strength and the lilting quality a Jon Anderson. The lead female vocals are handled admirably by Susie Bogdanowicz, who has appeared on numerous GH albums in the past.



For me, some of the real musical highlights of the album come near the end of the second disc; THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY is a beautiful piece with lush orchestration and touching keyboard passages. THE LADY WAITS is a dark and lushly orchestrated passage evocative of Aram Khatchaturian's Gayane adagio. The final song, HAVING CAUGHT A GLIMPSE deftly mixes orchestral power with prog-rock dynamics.



In what may seem like a major coup for the band, the album cover was illustrated by the godfather of all prog-rock album covers, the incomparable Roger Dean. Best known for his classic covers for YES and countless other bands back in the 70's, here he has created a glacial landscape and added his distinctive flair to what will surely become "the" Glass Hammer logo.



And herein lies the problem I have with this album. While the CD looks great, perhaps it was a mistake for GH to associate themselves so closely to such an iconic image. I'm afraid that people in a quest for the next YES will be disappointed. After 8 or 9 studio albums, the band has still to separate themselves from inevitable comparisons to those bands that have come before. I think the band should concentrate on more separation and creating their own distinct voice. That being said, I think fans of Glass Hammer will be delighted with this double CD package.

"

Symphonic Prog On An Epic Scale

Brian P. Nielsen | Collegeville, PA USA | 07/13/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Glass Hammer's latest offering, The Inconsolable Secret, is a 2-CD Progressive Rock album that eclipses their previous concept album masterpiece Lex Rex in nearly every aspect.



Musically, the sound of both Lex Rex and Shadowlands are represented and built upon exponentially, and the addition of Matt Mendians (Live at Nearfest and Lex Live) as GH's studio drummer will simply shut up the long time grumblings of fans and reviewers alike. The band experiments with styles never heard before on pervious albums, and the wide range of sound benefits the overall feel of both discs and highlights Babb and Schendel's growing maturity in songwriting that comes with their eighth major release. The production work is crisp and pristine, with a balanced sound. No instrument is ever too loud for need of overpowering the others, and having heard the album on a variety of systems, it seems to play well without much tweaking.



Lyrically the album centers around a 60+ page epic poem by Steve Babb entitled "The Lay of Lirazel" which in its own right is an incredible work, and is included with other goodies on the digipack-enhanced first CD.



Disc One, entitled "The Knight" contains two songs that are very much done in the fantastic "stripped down" sound of lush vocal harmonies, organ, mellotron, synth, bass, and guitar that made Glass Hammer famous. It opens with `A Maker of Crowns' a powerful song that has a piano, organ, and a synth riff running throughout that harkens back to Camel's work. The 25+ minute epic `The Knight of The North' has many sections and moods that work together as a whole- you never realize that you listened to near a half-hour of one song. At 7:50 into this track, there is a blaze of inspired synth and Hammond work, but there are simply too many highlights to mention; the piece closes strongly with warm choir and orchestra.



Disc Two, or "The Lady," is a cohesive set of songs that tell a story just as Lex Rex had, book ended by two tracks over 10 minutes in length. The beautiful female vocals get to take center stage multiple times, showing the incredible talents of both old and new girls. `Lirazel' remains a favorite of mine; although I wish it was longer! Many of the instrumental and symphonic pieces in the middle of CD two evoke a very "movie score" feel to them- you are taken along for the ride, like something out of The Lord of The Rings. `Mog Ruith' is an explosion of drums and keyboards fit for a battle scene. The soft ballad `Through a Glass Darkly' evokes emotions that run deep, and fits nicely within the set. `Having Caught a Glimpse' has soaring vocals and melody, and culminates in an incredible way, bringing themes and cues from other songs on the album to bring disc two to a close, which sent shivers through my whole body.



All this incredible orchestration, especially at the end of `Having Caught a Glimpse' almost worries the keyboard fan in me slightly. Fans need to make sure GH never forgets the sound that Lex Rex and Chronometree made famous.



That small reservation aside, which in no way detracts from this work as a whole, this is a must buy for any fan of Yes, Kansas, Echolyn, or keyboard-driven symphonic prog as a whole. Special mention must be made of the wonderful packaging and cover art with new logo created by famed artist Roger Dean.



One wonders how they might top this album, for Glass Hammer once again has taken a myriad of musical influences and made it completely their own: 5/5."

Organ A Go Go

K. L. Woomer | San Antonio Texas | 10/01/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a very good CD.. and so far GH has been able to improve on each release.. which would seem very hard to do since their last two have been very good.. and each one of those really topped the other one in quality...



I suspect that the folks in GH are just getting better at what they do, in conjunction with their music chops mixing with better engineering ideas and savvy. When both engineering savvy and music chops both grow at the same rate.. the product can be outstanding, and this product is very outstanding.



A lot of folks are noting that GH is going to for the YES audience.. and to some extent this is true.. the keyboard playing is quite good.. wakeman like in many ways... and there is enough guitar playing in this to float a comparison to YES.. but most of all, the style of Symphonic Progressive Music is what they most likely have the kindred soul of YES... I would say that they do have nods here and there to YES, but the style is quite different in the sense that they really don't sound like YES as much as they sound totally fresh and new... Certainly this band is more inspired than the releases of YES the past couple of outings (lets hope YES gets in the studio with Rick and cuts a great one!).. but it is unfair to YES and GH to say that GH is just imitating YES.... that is like saying that The Rolling Stones were imitating Chuck Berry.. certainly CB had an influence on the RS, but.. you get what I am saying.



The songs in this recording are quite outstanding, and the pipe organ/keyboards are really great. You have to like Keyboards to like this cd... it is a keyboard masterpiece... and sprinkled with awesome guitar... but keys are the mainstay of GH, and if anyone has any GH's previous work, you would understand it as a conintuation of this... GH has always been a keyboard extravaganza.



The vocals are very good, and over all this is a Prog treat.



Have fun"