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10th studio CD from our biggest selling US Symphonic Prog band, that not only features JA, but also covers the classic YES track: ‘South Side Of The Sky’!
The first thing to endorse about this album is the fantastic packaging - Michal Karcz’s Digi-Pak artwork and booklet gives you a sense of this album being a quality item before it even reaches the CD player – and indeed it is a magnificent sixty-nine minute work, where the band have taken an ever larger leap into the world of high quality conceptual prog-rock, and it all comes courtesy of some hot audiophile mastering from the legendary Bob Katz.
Vocalist Carl Groves (SALEH HILL) has joined GLASS HAMMER for this album, which strengthens the bands vocal range somewhat, and on the instrumental side, French guitar-virtuoso David Wallimann’s input adds another dimension to the GLASS HAMMER sound. Quoting founder members Steve Babb and Fred Schendel: “this album takes the band in a new direction as far as we’re concerned. We steered away from our retro-roots somewhat, and went for an edgier, contemporary style of prog. As always, it’s about making the music that we like best. ‘Culture’ represents where we want to be right now, musically and lyrically.” And what about the lyrics? Is ‘Culture of Ascent’ a concept album? “Yes,” says Babb. “This album is about Mount Everest, mountain-climbing, danger, risk-taking, longing, and a host of related ideas.”
Oh, and you might have noticed that a certain YES member is present on this new GLASS HAMMER album - Yes Jon Anderson does feature on several tracks, not as a lead vocalist, but as a secondary voice, adding extra textural colour, light and shade to the finished picture, So what’s it like then…?
‘Culture Of Ascent’ opens with the GLASS HAMMER version of: ‘South Of The Side Of The Sky’, and together with a fine atmospheric intro and then an equally impressive lead vocal performance from Suzy Bogdanowicz – the song sounds like it was made for her – and vocalizations by none other than Jon Anderson himself, all bringing that little bit of extra something to a song that many consider to be one of YES’s finest. It’s an excellent version of the Yes classic that stays pretty much true to the path the original took, with some extra effects added here and there and give the piece a greater sense of atmosphere and dynamics, setting the scene perfectly for the Babb/Schendel compositions that follow.
Now, most prog fans will know that YES number well, so the album has got off to a flying start, but from here on it’s into unfamiliar new territory, and just like any brand new YES album (remember when we used to get these?), it almost always took a few plays to get into, but once you did, there were hours upon hours of listening pleasure ahead to enjoy for many years to come (decades as it turns out), and that is what is going to happen with this new GLASS HAMMER album. At first it will seem a touch complex in the arrangement department, but that’s because the sheer volume of dynamics, chord changes involved in each composition. Those of you already into the band will realise how good GLASS HAMMER is both instrumentally and lyrically, so you are off to a head start when you hear that all their classic sounds are still there – melodic and attacking guitar runs, sweeping Mellotron textures, thick organ chords, spiralling synth solos and all those big, grandiose keyboard passages, but this album has a new feel to it.
‘Sun Song’ is the first of the new songs and it’s different from anything else I’ve heard GLASS HAMMER produce to date. It needs a play or two to unravel its early powerful, attacking, guitar runs and haunting Mellotron-led orchestral textures, but on the first play I sensed that the real rewards were only just round the corner, and they certainly were because I found that by the 3rd time round it all started to fall into place and flow so much easier. There’s plenty hot guitar, synth and violin soloing to get into along the way, with the dual guitar and keyboard interplay coming across a little like Howe and Wakeman in full flight, and together with bass work that’s right out of the Squire textbook and some pretty tight drumming, they build-up an impressive full sound. Additional symphonic layers come from the Adonia String Trio and their contribution makes the GLASS HAMMER sound bigger and more unique when combined with the traditional electronic instrumental line-up.
‘Life By Light’ is very inventive too - a kind of semi-chanted ethereal prog ballad sung by Carl Groves, with Jon Anderson’s vocal tones adding harmonies and colour the sonic picture. Here too, there are some captivating keyboard patterns from Schendel’s keyboards early on in the track, and then more from the Mellotron as the piece builds toward its conclusion. Musically, it is all very YES-like in style and as you get into the guts of the track, you cannot help feeling that this might have made an excellent new YES track for the millennium!
‘Ember Without Name’ is a sixteen-minute, 3-part piece that opens with a pulsating SPOCK’S BEARD style riff with jabbing chords of choral Mellotron breaking through every few seconds, until a searing electric guitar comes in and weaves in and around the central vibrating heart. Then the descriptive vocal enters and we go deep into the depths of the track with poignant guitar themes, haunting keyboard work and more powerful guitar work building a panoramic mind picture of vast proportions. Steve Babb’s bass-work here is sensational, giving Chris Squire a good run for his money, as it Fred Schendel’s keyboard playing. The inclusion of the string trio here provides a new dimension to the Glass Hammer sound, and coupled with the edgier guitar sound, it makes the track quite different from anything else that the band have previously come up with to date.
‘Into Thin Air’ is a 3-part, twenty-minute prog epic that opens with just a piano melody, then a serene vocal, then layers of organ and massed symphonic synths, then abruptly moving into a passage of just acoustic guitars, piano and string trio, before blasting back into a Yes-like power prog sequence, then back to gentle vocals and swathes of Mellotron… and so it goes. This is music that moves through many chord changes and instrumental breaks as it evolves, and all in the true traditions of classic prog-rock - at times complex and attacking, and at others, pastoral, ethereal and grandiose. This track could almost be GLASS HAMMER’s equivalent of the YES anthem ‘Awaken’, and it too closes with a huge build-up of high register vocals and uplifting organ swells, eventually reaching a huge climax where heaven-bound electric guitar and melodic Moogs soar high in the sky over an ethereal wall of Mellotron choirs - sounds that also reminded me of the excellent Belgian band MACHIAVEL when they were in their prime – Brilliant!
‘Rest’ is a sombre, but beautiful prog ballad where Carl Groves superb voice blends beautifully with layers of symphonic keyboards and the string trio, and with the addition heavenly harmony female backing vocals, provides an ethereal quality that closes the album very nicely indeed.
At times, the music on ‘Culture Of Ascent’ really does capture that sense of vastness, danger and daring associated with mountain climbing, but on a climb like this one there is a lot of different views and landscapes to take in and digest along the way, so you need to make the journey to the summit a few times before ‘Culture’ really does start to reveal the inner beauty and true character that eventually delivers over an hour of total listening pleasure.
CULTURE OF ASCENT Track List:
01. South Side Of The Sky (9:24)
02. Sun Song (9:33)
03. Life By Light (7:29)
04. Ember Without Name (16:33)
i. Part I
ii. Part II
iii. Part II
05. Into Thin Air (19:14)
i. Part I
ii. Part II
iii. Part III
06. Rest (6:33)
TPT – 69:13