Customer Reviews

Lex Rex

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The great virtuosi are few. The great composers are fewer still. And the truly great stories, which will bear the burden of being set to music, are fewest of all.

Enter Glass Hammer... This two-man musical ensemble, keyboard wizards Fred Schendel and Steve Babb of Chattanooga, Tennessee, had already made a considerable mark on the world of conceptual music with their Tolkienian albums Journey Of The Dunadan and The Middle-Earth Album, and their Perelandra and On To Evermore discs of music inspired by the fantasies of C. S. Lewis. With Lex Rex, their most recent release, they stride to the forefront of truly audacious, truly accomplished contemporary music.

Lex Rex tells the story of the Roman centurion Longinus, a man deeper than his fellows, who searches lifelong for "the source of glory." He finds it in a Man who defies the religious authorities of the province in which he serves, and is condemned to die in the time's most horrible fashion: Jesus of Nazareth. It is Longinus's fate to administer the coup de grace to Christ, piercing his side with a lance.

The libretto is simple, elegant, and utterly beautiful, telling this timeless tale in the artless words of a man of the sword who has no pretenses and is beset by a yawning desire for transcendence through truth. The music is beyond description. It combines careful, elaborate composition, lit by one piercing melody after another, with a rapturous brilliance of execution. It pours over the listener like a waterfall of stars.

Lex Rex is a sorely needed record -- not for its polemic value but as an example of what heights contemporary music can achieve when it dares to reach really high. The norm for polemic efforts in the arts, particularly in the Christian vein, is esthetically low; I offer the crudely told Left Behind books of Jenkins and LaHaye as Prosecutor's Exhibit One. But it needn't be that way; Glass Hammer has proved it.

... Highly recommended. A perfect Christmas gift!

I have three other Glass Hammer CD's and many other prog albums. I have been a prog fan since the glory days of ELP, Yes, Camel, and Kansas. LEX REX ranks right up there with the best of them. It is a keyboard tour de force! The bass playing is excellent too. There are not any weak songs, unlike the other Glass Hammer CD's I have. In some places the vocals are only good, not excellent. The same is true of the drumming; in one very brief place it is irksome. If this CD had been recorded with a great prog drummer like Phil Ehart or Nick D'Virgilio, LEX REX would be prog classic.

For those looking for a unique Christmas gift for someone you loves the "heyday" of progressive music (you know, tons of keyboards, liquid guitar leads, esoteric lyrics, precision drumming, and bass pedals..aka..1970's Yes, ELP, and Genesis),
I can think of no better CD from 2002 to surprise the living daylights out of them. I am a huge fan of the Swedish progressive band Flower Kings, and was blown away by their latest relese called Unfold The Future. Well Lex Rex arrived from Amazon[.com] on the same order, and I must rank Lex Rex right up there with any of the Flower King's releases except for Rainmaker. If you know a die-hard prog fan or happen to be one yourself, do yourself a favor and just order this one. I previously owned Chronometree and was not all that impressed, but Lex Rex puts this Chattanooga progressive band over the top. Bravo!

I'm an older guy (50) who played keyboards in prog bands, back when they were 'new'. After enduring the endless wave of various forms of metal, dance, and electronica bands, I have been excited by the emergence of neo-prog as a viable music style. I have become particularly fond of Spock's Beard and The Tangent, and, even though not prog in the strictest sense, Mostly Autumn. I purchased Lex Rex as a sample of Glass Hammer, and Lex Rex is the only thing I have heard from the band. The album is OK, and there is no question that the musicians have excellent chops. However, I find the songwriting to be somewhat lacking and the album depends too much on overly cliched keyboard phrasing and drumming. After listening to the album a couple times, I was pretty fatigued. Oddly, there were passages that almost made it but never quite delivered. One thing that I kept thinking while listening was that this was all done before by Triumvirat (Spartacus). Not only was it done before (right down to the Roman Empire inspired themes), but Triumvirat did it so much better and I have never tired of that album after 3 decades of listening to it. Perhaps it would do Glass Hammer well to listen to Spartacus and compare it with Lex Rex. Right now listening to Lex Rex is like watching a very inferior remake of a great film (Madonna's Swept Away comes to mind).

The only reason I gave this album a 5-star rating is because that is the most they would let me give it. Glass Hammer's LEX REX is one of the most impressive recordings I have ever heard. The melodies and diverse instrumentation make listening to this album a truly awesome and pleasurable experience. Definitely the best of Babb and Schendel!

The great virtuosi are few. The great composers are fewer still. And the truly great stories, which will bear the burden of being set to music, are fewest of all.

Enter Glass Hammer (http://www.glasshammer.com). This two-man musical ensemble, keyboard wizards Fred Schendel and Steve Babb of Chattanooga, Tennessee, had already made a considerable mark on the world of conceptual music with their Tolkienian albums Journey Of The Dunadan and The Middle-Earth Album, and their Perelandra and On To Evermore discs of music inspired by the fantasies of C. S. Lewis. With Lex Rex, their most recent release, they stride to the forefront of truly audacious, truly accomplished contemporary music.

Lex Rex tells the story of the Roman centurion Longinus, a man deeper than his fellows, who searches lifelong for "the source of glory." He finds it in a Man who defies the religious authorities of the province in which he serves, and is condemned to die in the time's most horrible fashion: Jesus of Nazareth. It is Longinus's fate to administer the coup de grace to Christ, piercing his side with a lance.

The libretto is simple, elegant, and utterly beautiful, telling this timeless tale in the artless words of a man of the sword who has no pretenses and is beset by a yawning desire for transcendence through truth. The music is beyond description. It combines careful, elaborate composition, lit by one piercing melody after another, with a rapturous brilliance of execution. It pours over the listener like a waterfall of stars.

Lex Rex is a sorely needed record -- not for its polemic value but as an example of what heights contemporary music can achieve when it dares to reach really high. The norm for polemic efforts in the arts, particularly in the Christian vein, is esthetically low; I offer the crudely told Left Behind books of Jenkins and LaHaye as Prosecutor's Exhibit One. But it needn't be that way; Glass Hammer has proved it.

Lex Rex, and all of their other compositions, can be ordered through the Glass Hammer website mentioned above, or through Amazon. Highly recommended. A perfect Christmas gift!

If you're looking for a newer prog album that will transport you straight back to the classic 70s, look no further. This album sounds straight up like a sequel to Yes' 1977 release, Going for the One, specifically the GftO tracks Parallels and Awaken.

These are mostly longer songs, with three tracks in the 10 minute range or longer. The musicianship is expert. The keyboards are way out front: lots of wonderful, ascending organs that provide a very celestial sound. The guitars are also excellent, and reminiscent in a very pleasant way of the work by Yes guitarist Steve Howe. The rhythm section is equally excellent, and the vocals - while lower than Yes singer Jon Anderson - are also good.

The only reason this album is docked a star is the lyrics and the spoken word segments. Ouch! There's way too much about soldiers, swords and dragons. Where is Pete Sinfield when you need him? And the spoken word segue tracks are embarrassing; thankfully they are extremely brief and - as separate tracks - easily avoided.

But aside from that, this album is perfect 70s-style symphonic progressive rock, and is highly recommended.

glass hammer are basically a retro-prog group out of chattanooga tennessee. the groups main musical input comes from babb and schindel, the bassist and keyboardist.
glass hammer wear their influinces on their sleeves on this outing. nods to kansas, yes, jethro tull, and ELP are throughout this album, and this is not a bad thing at all.
to me, 'lex rex' is a classic through and through, from the complex musical arrangements, the layered storytelling, right down to the beautiful artwork. its one of those albums that they will be proud of their entire lives. its timeless.
lex rex is definitely a biblically inspired album. however, the band arent evangelical or anything. they dont preach their beliefs, they instead tell the listener an epic story.
i recommend glass hammers 'lex rex' to any fan of old progressive rock, such as yes, kansas, ELP, or jethro tull. i also recommend it to any serious music fan who is looking for something a little different. and if your looking for something positive and uplifting, lex rex is your album.

I've always loved Glass Hammer, but from the moment I heard the first samples, I knew this one was going to be spectacular. Now I think spectacular is an understatement.
The tale of a young Roman soldier and his epic quest to find true glory, Lex Rex has awed countless critics with its excellent lyrics and storyline, majestic complexity of sound, and brilliant vocal sections. Steve and Fred shine through with the best work ever; the result is breathtaking.
If I could only listen to one CD for the next twenty years, this would be the one.
I am such a huge Tolkien freak that I can speak elvish - keep this in mind when I repeat my bold claim: Steve Babb is the TOLKIEN of music!!! I can think of no higher praise. If you like progressive rock at all, or even if you don't, you will LOVE this album!

MANY years ago I worked for a very short time as a DJ at a Christian contemporary radio station. I liked music (still do), thought it might be cool to do something in radio, and to be honest, I needed the money. It was a Sunday morning gig starting at about 5:30, which definitely put a crimp in my Saturday nights, but I figured it would be interesting to try.

As I mentioned, it was a very short-lived stint, maybe about 2 months, but it was 2 of the most tortuous months of my life regarding music exposure. Worship Music is quite often some of the most boring, uncreative, uninspiring tunage to ever waste the electricity to power a radio broadcast antenna. Some people seem to think that merely describing (or singing about) something they think is wonderful or beautiful will make their words (or singing) wonderful or beautiful, but it doesn't work that way. And I get the feeling Glass Hammer occasionally falls into that trap.

Is all of religiously influenced music that way? Heck no...despite occasionally goofy lyrics, I fairly enjoyed Neil Morse' "?" (the CD titled with the question mark symbol) and even GH's "If" seriously blew me away (my first GH purchase), though mostly for the music, I'll admit.

Additionally I now have to apologize for being overly critical on my Din Within review, because Lex Rex makes the vocals and lyrics from that disc seem Shakespearean in comparison. Honestly, were it not for the decently proggy music on this, it would come across like a purple-dinosaur sing along about "glooooooory". The vocal melodies are very basic, not so expressionistic, and the delivery and phrasing of the mediocre lyrics are painfully "Romper Room" in places.

"Do be a Do-Bee search for glo-ree..." etc, blah-blah. Ouch..

And the contrast with the music, which is fairly decent and nicely prog-laden (almost clichély so) in most of this CD, is making this really hard to enjoy. It's like eating a nice bowl of ice cream with a bunch of hidden pistachios (I HATE pistachios) really tainting the overall experience. Now, is it fair to rate this down because I don't like pistachios (or the vocals and lyrics on this CD)? Maybe not, but if you already know you don't mind cheezy GH vocals but you've seen that I think the music on here is decently written and nicely (even rockingly in places) played, then this review might still provide you something. After all, SOMEbody likes pistachios...I'm just mostly writing this for the folks who don't.

Despite there being some REALLY cool music on here (very classic sympho-prog in nature), it seems like they weren't quite sure where they wanted to take it. There's the occasional element that seems just thrown in simply because they could, not because it necessarily fit. But, these guys do have some fine chops, have written and played some interesting and likeable prog-like melodies, on here. I like the keyboard work quite a bit (how can you go wrong with a Hammond and a Moog...or at least something that sounds like the two), and the guitar, bass and drums all hold up their respective ends as well. Again, quite nice. If I had the chance to remove the vocals on this, I'd say it's even better than Neil Morse' "?". But I can't...

Plus for me on this CD is "The Centurion" tune. It lets the music go front and center, and for me, that's going with a strength. Not so many pistachios...hmmmm...good ice cream! In toto I'd have to say the music is a 4 star rating, and the vocals are about a 2, averaging it all out to the 3 stars I gave.