Customer Reviews

Perelandra

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Perelandra, the first of Glass Hammer's C. S. Lewis-influenced albums, is a beautiful record, well worth its purchase price. As always with Schendel and Babb, the music is soaring and exquisite, and rendered with virtuosic skill. However, in comparison to Journey Of The Dunadan, Chronometree, and Lex Rex, this disc is narratively less well integrated; that is, it tells a less well unified, less well defined story.

Given the influence they chose, it's hard to fault Glass Hammer for that. C. S. Lewis's space fantasy is much more resistant to musical dramatization than Tolkien or the story of Longinus the Centurion. Also, the attempt to include themes from That Hideous Strength (Lewis's sequel to Perelandra) doesn't quite come off. And what's "The Way To Her Heart" doing in here? It's a beautiful piece, but it doesn't fit the Lewis oeuvre at all.

Nevertheless, this is a fine piece of work, and anyone who loves progressive / conceptual rock will enjoy it greatly. It's just not Glass Hammer's high-water mark.

Literally, Glass Harp is fantastic, that is, they put into music some of the greatest fantasy fiction of all time. From Tolkien's Lord of the Rings to Lewis' Space Trilogy, Glass Harp is well-read. Only Glass Harp, with their progressive-style rock could pull this album off. It is a masterpiece; truly a magnum opus. One can actually feel oneself take off from earth like a "starship trooper" in the opening cut (like Ransom is in the first book of the Space Trilogy). There are many progressive tunes on this album with many soaring synth solos, and divers key and time signiture changes. Also, in the vein of their previous album Journey of the Dunedan, they include several eerie dramas in between songs. Also the addition of Michelle Young on vocals really adds a new dimension to the group. And to top it all, Glass Harp includes their great ballad "the way to her heart" (also on Journey of the Dunedan). All in all, this is a great cd.

With Glass Hammer you can be sure of one thing: that every new album will be different. It's as if each new album is a new band.

This one differs quite a bit, and is probably their second best, after Lex Rex.

The instrumentals, as always, are superb. Equally good, the singing is great. (The singing is usually GH's weak point.)

There's even a very nice classical pastiche: a synthesizer snippet from Mendelssohn's 4th Symphony, called "Felix the Cat."

Above all, there is great variety and inventiveness.

After seeing so few stars and reading ordinary reviews
I braced myself expecting the worst while waitng for this
CD to turn up in the mail. When it did I placed it into my lucky CD player
and it began to happen , LUSH BEAUTY COMPLEX ENGAGING It has all of the vintage more classic trates with some modern
ideas GET THIS CD

Finally, a band that has something artistically original and compelling to say. Although I like Dream Theater, I'm tired of hearing every new "progressive" band labeled as the next DT. Glass Hammer creates a veritable wall of sound. Lush orchestration, inspiring lyrics and bold musicianship drive this album, beginning with Time Marches On. That tune helped me re-visit the spiraling keyboard sounds of the latter 70s and 80s. If you are looking for something new, take a chance on this album -- it's well worth it.

The story is great! The music is beautiful and the song Heaven is worth the purchase price! Glass Hammer is a fantastic band. Obviously, they're classically influenced and master musicians. Every time they put out an album, they get better and better and better. I recommend everyone who reads this buy all of they're albums!!!

If you haven't heard of GLASS HAMMER, don't feel bad, they're the best unknown progressive rock bands to walk the planet. And this is their best album, although they haven't put out a bad one yet. GLASS HAMMER will definitely appeal to fans of YES, ELP, PINK FLOYD, and GENESIS. This album is a keyboard lovers dream! Perelandra is perfect story telling through music. The album ends with one of the best progrock songs ever, "Heaven". The only question is, "Why isn't this band more popular?" Progrock fans, don't hesitate, pick this one up!

I'm not sure why there are bad reviews of this one. I think it is great. This is actually very progressive and probably their weirdest. I love the song that has the Adrian Belew type guitar solo and Heaven is a mini masterpiece. I also love the instrumental work. Once again, Glass Hammer amazes me. Why is this band so underrated??

After seeing so few stars and reading ordinary reviews
I braced myself expecting the worst while waitng for this
CD to turn up in the mail. When it did I placed it into my lucky CD player
and it began to happen , LUSH BEAUTY COMPLEX ENGAGING It has all of the vintage more classic trates with some modern
ideas GET THIS CD.

I felt it only decent to come back and give my honest opinion of Perelandra. I ordered this CD because of the reviews I read here and was quite disappointed. Now, this review deals only with Perelandra, I have heard no other works by Glass Hammer and I cannot comment, though from what I hear from friends, the things that I thought were lacking have been improved.
First, one of the big problems here is the vocals. Frankly, whoever these guys are, they can't sing. There is a female voice in the background who has a few prominent lines who obviously sings MUCH better than the fellow doing most of the leads. She should be the only one singing any leads. The guy sounds like a dull version of David Paich (from Toto) who strains to hit some rather low notes and sounds off key in a few instances.
The music is brighter subject matter. The soundscape is lush and very well orchestrated, though a little under produced. The melodies could use a little work, they tend to be bland and unimaginative in spots. I hate to be so down on a band that seems to have alot of promise, but they just didn't quite get a hit with this one. I would give this CD away but I am not sure if I know anyone who would like it. And I am a big prog fan and have lots of friends into the same. Hope this helps. Not sure how they are now, but if you want to try Glass Hammer, I suggest you look at one of their other CDs. Then maybe you could tell me how they are.