The evolution of Tennessee's Glass Hammer continues with Arise, their latest releases that sees the symphonic progressive rock fan descent further into darker, heavier, and certainly spacier sounds. For Arise, the line-up is comprised of:
Steve Babb: Keyboards, rhythm and lead guitars, bass guitar, percussion, and vocals
Hannah Pryor: Vocals
Reese Boyd: Lead and rhythm guitars
Randall Williams: Drums
With Fred Schendel: Guitars and Drums on WASP-12
As you can see by the above, co-founding member Schendel has taken a rather hands-off approach on this album, with Babb playing the bulk of the instruments, writing the album, and singing all the male vocal parts alongside Hannah Pryor. Glass Hammer has been on this journey for the last few albums, as Steve's songwriting has parlayed into books, taking the band's music in a totally different direction from their previous Yes-like sound. Heavier riffs and space rock atmosphere has lodged themselves into their repertoire on recent albums, and the spacier vibe really comes across on Arise. Just check out the energetic "Arion (18 Delphini b)", which could be an '80s Hawkwind song, the Tangerine Dream influenced "Mare Sirenum", and the ominous synth-drenched "Lost" for some examples of these musical sci-fi themes. On the opposite end of the spectrum, heavy Black Sabbath meets Rush riffs crush the listener on "Rift at Wasp- 12" and "Proxima Centauri", two of the heaviest songs the band has ever done. The epic title track though harkens back to the bands classic sound, complete with lovely keyboard textures, tasty lead guitars, and a great vocal from Pryor, who is really coming into her own as THE singer for Glass Hammer. At the back end of the album is the 17-minute "The Return Of Daedalus", which combines most of these elements and turns into a gargantuan prog jam, featuring some wild lead guitar from Babb & Boyd.
For many years, Glass Hammer was a band that cranked out albums fairly quickly, though they had a formula that was satisfying yet slightly predictable, but these days they have been anything but. This new Glass Hammer is not afraid to go off in different directions, keeping listeners guessing where they will go next. Arise is a fun, heavy, and spacey prog release, and I'm excited to see where they go next.
Track Listing
1.
Launch Of The Daedalus 01:12
2.
Wolf 359 05:35
3.
Arion (18 Delphini b) 05:14
4.
Mare Sirenum 02:57
5.
Lost 06:33
6.
Rift At Wasp-12 04:11
7.
Proxima Centauri B 05:16
8.
Arise 11:44
9.
The Return Of Daedalus 16:50
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