GLASS HAMMER - COR CORDIUM (2011 SYMPHONIC PROG STUDIO CLASSIC)

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Influences range from YES, ELP, GENESIS & PINK FLOYD, this band are leading exponents of the Symphonic Prog genre, and HUGE favourites at CDS Towers!

‘Cor Cordium’ is GLASS HAMMER’s 2011 follow-up to last year's highly acclaimed: ‘If’, an album which found its place in numerous Top 10 and Best of 2010 lists throughout the prog world. To keep the momentum going from last year’s success, singer Jon Davison and guitarist Alan Shikoh return with GLASS HAMMER co-founders Steve Babb and Fred Schendel to create the band’s 14th studio album.
“We never set out to make ‘If’ Volume 2,” reveals Babb. “But we are definitely heading in the same direction musically. Fans that loved ‘If’ are going to be equally excited about Cor Cordium."
Featuring 6 tracks, including the highly addictive: ‘Salvation Station’, the epic-length: ‘To Someone’ and the climactic: ‘She, A Lonely Tower’, the album also again comes with the amazing art work and 16-Page Full-Colour Booklet by artist Tom Kuhn and audiophile mastering by Bob Katz of Digital Domain.
The full band line-up for this GLASS HAMMER release is: Fred Schendel (keyboards / steel guitar / backing vocals), Steve Babb (bass guitar / keyboards / backing vocals), Jon Davison (lead vocals / acoustic guitars) & Alan Shikoh (electric and acoustic guitars / sitar).

So what is it like then? Well, past CDS reviews for GLASS HAMMER have made clear references to bands like ELP, GENESIS & YES, and it has to be said that this sounds like their most clearly YES influenced album to date. The arrangements and instrumentation are very much like ‘Going For The One’ period YES with superb Wakeman style organ runs, high flying melodic synthesizers and tasteful, carefully used Mellotron parts. The excellent melodic / technical guitar work also echoes Steve Howe at his most tuneful, and the driving rhythm section might have taken a few lessons from the Squire & White team over the years.
Even the relatively new singer “Jon” Davidson (who was on the last album ‘If’ as well) has many Anderson-esque qualities in his voice and the vocal harmonies with the other band members are extremely good too.
You might also recall that when we first introduced CDS customers to GLASS HAMMER back in 2000, with a glowing (well, raving actually :-) review for their ‘Chronomatree’ album, the word Emerson was banded about at regular intervals for the standard of Fred Schendel’s Hammond organ work – well there’s more of that classy keyboard wizardry here too, especially on the eighteen-minute: ‘To Someone’. In fact Schendel’s amazingly skilled keyboard work falls somewhere between that of Rick Wakeman and Keith Emerson – a great place to be too – but probably tends to lean more toward the structured melodic style of the former for most of the time.
All that said, GLASS HAMMER’s music is very much their own – they are only incorporating the feel and sounds of big-name bands like YES into their excellent symphonic prog compositions. The mastering of ‘Cor Cordium’ is truly stunning, so the sound on the album is (as always) first-rate, with every instrument clearly heard in the smooth, dynamic mix, with the vocals clearly focussed on centre stage. The guitars and keyboards blend in perfect harmony during the instrumental passages, holding to the true spirit of 70’s symphonic prog in every way possible.
Symphonic Prog doesn’t come too much better than this, and again GLASS HAMMER has delivered on every level.
‘Cor Cordium’ is an essential purchase for all Symphonic Prog fans, and if you’re a YES fan, well maybe this will be the album you wish they’d made last time round? The cover art has a distinct “YES” look to it as well :-)

COR CORDIUM Track List:

01. Nothing Box (10:53)
02. One Heart (6:20)
03. Salvation Station (5:08)
04. Dear Daddy (10:30)
05. To Someone (18:15)
06. She, A Lonely Tower (10:57)

TPT - 62:22