Progressive Rock band Glass Hammer's latest CD, Ode ToEcho, is a much welcome addition to their extensive catalog. In fact, if you are unfamiliar with Progressive Rock it is also a great introduction.
If someone were to ask me what Progressive Rock is, I could very well direct them to the new Glass Hammer.
Every time the band comes out with a new CD my wife gets a little cranky. I lock myself in my office and log off Facebook and listen from beginning to end. That’s the way I used to experience music when I was a younger man but taking in an entire album from start to finish is no easy feat for a busy adult. My wife’s displeasure has nothing to do with me being absent from the family for the evening but more from the fact that my two year old daughter is sleeping in the room next to me and I refuse to use headphones.
Ode To Echo is worth it.
As soon as the first track starts I know I am not going to be disappointed. Garden of Hedon kicks off with a grab-you-and –make-you –listen intro. Just the way I like my Hammer. Unpredictable and tasty.
By the time I get to Crowbone I’ve leaned back in my office chair and closed my eyes. I’m already hooked three songs in and I can just hear my little girl starting to grumble from her crib in the next room. Great solos in this one too.
I AM I comes up next, Steve Babb you maniac. Awesome intro that gives way to beautiful vocals. Solid drumming too, welcome back Aaron Raulston! Lots of cool surprises here.
Funny , The Grey Hills is the same tempo as my wife’s angry footsteps in the hallway. If you’re going to be cranky, be cranky in tempo.
Ozymandias wraps it up a few songs later with all the cool fun you expect from GH.
The whole band is tight and the arrangements are brilliant. You have Jon Davison, Carl Groves, Susie Bogdanowicz and Walter Moore all singing (excellent vocal arrangements by the way,) Out standing and it features the eye-catching artwork of Michal “Xaay” Loranc
I know when I step out of my office my wife will be holding my daughter and giving me that I-Was-Trying-To-Watch-Parenthood look. That’s ok. I’ll put my baby back to bed and bring my wife some wine. She’ll still be mad but it will be worth it.
Music Review: Glass Hammer’s Ode To Echo
by Roman Guzman
Origianlly appeared in Coreopsis