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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Initial Impressions, November 8, 2007
Where do you go from up? You ascend of course...
Glass Hammer is the best modern progressive rock band, and if it weren't for the existance of Gentle Giant, I'd put them solidly in the running for Best Progressive Rock Band Ever (sorry, Yes).
Other reviewers have hit several points: the more "metal" edged guitars, not enough Susie, repeated listenings, VERY hard to top "The Inconsolable Secret" et al. I think all these are all valid points, but my impression on one listening (so far) is that this is yet another darn fine effort from Glass Hammer. And now for the unavoidable prog band comparisons...
I find the harder edged guitar work more "Kansas" than "Dream Theater". It may be a little harsher than we're used to, but it works well in this work. If "The Inconsolable Secret" is Glass Hammer's "Close to the Edge", "Culture of Ascent" is their "Going For The One" (Awaken is perhaps my second favorite Yes song, so this is also a Good Thing). The vocals are fine throughout and Jon Anderson is always a delight to listen to, but Steve and Fred if you're reading this, more Susie B. would definitely be a Good Thing!
All that being said, Glass Hammer is not Yes, Kansas, ELP, or Gentle Giant. They are a fantastic band in their own right and their music has yet to fail to be anything less than uplifting. "Culture of Ascent" is no exception. A single listen in the old Grados has me sitting here with a big ear-to-ear grin; this is absolutely delightful music! It is a different and somewhat exotic flavor from their past work, but I'm looking forward to repeated listenings and digesting "Culture of Ascent" fully in the near future.
All in all, if you like progressive rock or Glass Hammer, you will like this album. It is definitely worth adding to your collection.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Looking up, December 20, 2007
I've never been big a fan of this prog band from Tennessee, but they sure are popular in prog circles. I've always critisized them in the past for being milktoast - not ballsy enough, too artsy-fartsy, lazy writing - steller musicianship though, at least one good song per album anyway. Kind of a souped-up Manheim Steamroller.
This new one is different. They have a couple of new members, Carl Groves of the band Salem Hill, who in my opinion is a much, much better writer of music and lyrics, and guitarist David Wallimann, who provides an edgier guitar sound. The songs on this new GH album, Culture Of Ascent, have bite, but still retain the air of symphonic prog. Not to say that GH sucked before, but they were a band patterned after the ELP side of prog (and I have little use for ELP). With this new album they have a more modern sound...well...as modern as this style of music gets anyway.
A few caveats - they touted this new one for months saying Jon Anderson was appearing on it...and he does, except he only provides "vocalizations" , not real vocals, so in my estimation, its like getting to second base on a date, over top of the winter coat. So anyone buying this CD thinking Anderson plays a major role on it will be disappointed. And while I appreciate the edge that Wallimann brings to this band, his soloing came acrossed a tad misplaced at times. The solos could have been thought out a bit better.
Carl Grove's touch is all over this one. I think the writing has improved and the compositions are stronger than on other GH albums. Perhaps GH is the prog outlet Groves has been looking for - fans of Salem Hill might want to take note of this new GH album, as its the prog album SH fans always wanted Carl Groves to make.
I like this rendition of Glass Hammer. No, this won't convert too many people already opposed to symphonic prog. The guitar play is meatier, but this isn't by any stroke a metallish sound; its still pretty much a keyboard affair. Sounding like a prog rock album, and not a Windham Hill album, it seems that someone finally lit a fire under GH for this new one.
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7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
In Search Of Another's Identity, April 12, 2008
"Culture of Ascent" is Glass Hammer's 10th album, which was released October 23rd, 2007. On this album, Glass Hammer appears to be a band which isn't struggling to find their own identity, but one which is struggling to take on the identity of another band; specifically they appear to want to be Yes. It is more than their choice to cover "South Side of the Sky", or to have guest vocalist Jon Anderson provide some backing vocal work. It is even more than having Roger Dean design their logo. On many of their pieces there appears to be an attempt to recapture the Yes sound from the 70s. Not that Yes from the 70s isn't great music, but this is supposed to be progressive music, not regressive.
The album opens with the aforementioned "South Side of the Sky" which is a decent cover, but doesn't offer anything new or unique to the piece. Susie Bogdanowicz vocals are pleasant, but I don't find her voice strong enough, though it is good to hear Jon Anderson adding some vocalizations to the overall work. The next piece is "Sun Song" which starts out with a different sound, but takes on Yes overtones late in the piece. The lyrics are rather weak, and it is rather unexceptional. "Life by Light" is the most similar to a Yes song other than the cover, partially due to Jon Anderson adding some vocal work here as well. Once again though, the result is so-so. "Ember Without Name" is my favorite piece from the album. It does suffer from some up and down moments, but overall there is a lot more upside than down. "Into Thin Air" is the longest piece on the album, but never caught my ear as far as offering anything special. "Rest" also suffers from never really going anywhere, which is too bad considering there is some nice string work.
Overall, I found the compositions and the lyrics to be fairly weak. There are some nice moments in each piece, but they do not sustain it throughout the entire work. "South Side of the Sky" is not surprisingly the strongest work, but as far as the original pieces go I can easily place "Ember Without Name" as the one which shows the most potential. I do like the use of strings on the album, and The Adonia String Trio is a definite plus for the album. I found the vocals to be uninteresting for the most part, and an area where they need to improve, either through bringing in another lead singer or through the development of their vocalists. The best part of the album is the instrumentation and the solos, as it is then when the group really shines and it becomes clear why this group has a significant fan base.
The group consists of Steve Babb (bass guitar, pipe organ, Taurus pedals, the Free Note, associated percussion, mellotron, piano, harp, loops and programming, mini-Moog, backing vocals), Fred Schendel (Nord electro 2, Nord lead 2, piano, Bela D media D-synth, organs, electric piano, mellotron, additional synths, loops and rogramming, acoustic guitar, string arrangements, backing vocals), David Wallmann (guitars), Carl Groves (lead and backing vocals), Matt Mendians (drums), Susie Bogdanowicz (lead and backing vocals). There is also The Adonia String Trio which consists of Rebecca James (violin), Susan Whitacre (viola), and Rachel Beckham (cello). There are several guests as well including Jon Anderson (vocalizations on "South Side of the Sky" and "Life by Light"), Eric Parker (acoustic guitar on "Life by Light"), Robert Streets (backing vocals and `Eden' solo on "Into Thin Air"), Sarah Snyder (backing vocals on "Into Thin Air"), and Haley McGuire (backing vocals on "Sun Song" and "Into Thin Air").
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