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Glass Hammer - The Inconsolable Secret

Artist: Glass Hammer
Title: The Inconsolable Secret
Label: Arion Records SR1320
Length(s): 40+59 minutes
Year(s) of release: 2005
Month of review: [12/2005]

Line up

Steve Babb - vocals, assorted bass, guitars and keys
Fred Schendel - vocals, (steel) guitars, keyboards
Matt Mendians - drums
Susie Bogdanowiz - vocals
Walter Moore - vocals
with
Sarah Snyder - soprano voice
Bethany Warren - bakcing vocals, girls choir
Flo Paris - vocals on 2.1 and 2.11
Eric Parker - acoustic guitar
Adonia String Trio
Rebecca James - concert master, violin
Susan Hawkins - viola
Rachel Hackenberger - cello
Laura Lindstrom - vocals on 5
Stephanie Rumpza - recorder, choir
Tom Hammett - tenor voice
David Carter - lead guitar

Tracks

Disc 1: The Knights
1) A Maker Of Crowns 15.21
2) The Knight Of The North 24.39

Disc 2: The Lady
1) Long And Long Ago 10.23
2) The Morning She Woke 5.36
3) Lirazel 4.30
4) The High Place 3.33
5) Morrigan's Song 2.23
6) Walking Toward Doom 2.06
7) Mog Ruith 2.03
8) Through A Glass Darkly 6.55
9) The Lady Waits 5.46
10) The Mirror Cracks 2.12
11) Having Caught A Glimpse 13.23

Summary

Glass Hammer has been moving up to the first division of prog for some time now. Their newest is a double album, packaged with Roger Dean artwork in an extensive digipack. Now, to the music.

The music

Disc one is not very long, and has only two lengthy tracks. The first part of the story of the Lay of Lirazel is told here. The music has all the elements of modern prog that is strongly influenced by the old symphonic masters, in this case Yes, ELP and Genesis. The piano work for instance is a dead ringer for Genesis, the organ for ELP and the prominent bass work will remind of Yes. Still, the most dominant are the synths, with the guitar playing the accompaniment, somewhat in an ethereal Hackettish style. The music is pure symphonic bombast, but of the warm and lush kind. As usual the album is a concept album, this time built around an epic poem by Steve Babb. There are thus plenty of vocals, sung by the male vocalist Walter Moore. The music is often formed after the vocals, because a story line has to be told. The vocal melodies sometimes have elements of Kansas, especially in the louder parts. Then the energy dies down, and we end up in a balladic part in which the main theme of the song recurs sung by Moore. The piano does the accompaniment here. Slowly, the drums set in again, and we end with a typical finale part.

The second and last track then. We open with a medieval part, but soon the bass is rumbling again and the organ adding a measure of bombast. Again, the themes are excellent, this time conveyed by a string orchestra. The music really dances. The vocals plus harmony are very Kansas like, with elements of Spock's Beard (in the Morse days). But it has to be said, although Glass Hammer takes the safe road towards acclaim in the symphonic rock world, they do have the sense of melody, composition and yes that bit of magic to keep things interesting. This song does have a long and fiddly keyboard/organ intermezzo strongly in the vein of ELP, but also friendly acoustics and the heavily pronounced bass sound. There is also some playful harpsichord, with some frolic keyboards added. The end has some nice bombast with vocals choirs going full-out, and a strong old-Genesis feel in the keyboards right before. Also the string orchestra retuns for the finale.

On disc two then, we the average song length is quite a bit lower, but still we start off with the lengthy Long And Long Ago. The song opens with classical, but melodic piano. Soon after, the keyboards set in for an up-beat Yes styled passage. This song is a bit rowdier than those on the first disc with some furious guitar play, but to compensate also some stylish church organ and light flute play. The music walks the fine line between the complex muscled prog and the romantic and very English feel of early Genesis. On this song, we hear the female vocalist for the first time. Susie's voice has similarities to that of Tracy Hitchings, but a bit softer and warmer.

The Morning She Woke is a Moore bouncy piece, but also with some typical Banksian elements and some mellotron. The vocal line is not so impressive this time. The middle passage is a combination of many types of keyboards and also helps to build up some tension.

The protagonist of the story is Lirazel. The harpsichord is the instrument of choice for the opening of this song. Then the strings come in again, building a slow, moody piece full of sad melody. The vocals sound crystal clear, and slightly folky. With the The High Place we are in an acoustic mood lined by vocal choirs. The vocals give a classical feel, as does the instrumentation in fact. It is quite easy to think of soundtrack music here.

More folk on Morrigan's Song, but Walking Toward Doom is quite different with its slightly dark classical leaning. The ghost of Emerson and the bass of Squire runs through the pacey Mog Ruith. There is a quite a bit less vocals on this disc it seems to me, it is now the music that tells a story.

The opening of Through A Glass Darkly by comparison is slightly formless, unstructured, but also a resting point after its predecessor. Then the vocals set in with the piano and we have a light passage for the more proggy keys set in. The Lady Waits is an instrumental piece in which the string orchestra is the only? factor. It makes the impression of soundtrack all the stronger. The Mirror Cracks is similar, but darker. They all prepare for the final feat, Having Caught A Glimpse. This is Glass Hammer in top form, building up slowly from military drums and a strong theme played on the keyboards/organ. The vocals are shared between Susie and Walter. The grand finale is excellent.

Conclusion

Pure and good symphonic rock is not easy to come by. Especially if the band tries to keep it accessible, as Glass Hammer does, it usually comes down to some worn out cliches. Now the use of a fantasy story might indeed be cliche to many, the music is certainly good enough to be interesting a full 100 minutes long. The first disc is more prog and bombast, while the second alos delves into a melodious folk style in the shorter songs, alternated with some instrumental soundtrackish pieces. However, Long And Long Ago is the biggest rocker on the album. Note that Glass Hammer is not much of a rocking outfit: we get some full blown bombast but often this is due to keyboards in the ELP vein, and not a guitar going solo. The bass does have a prominent role on the first disc. Glass Hammer is not original: they take the best elements of Genesis, Yes and Kansas and turn this into a very pleasing whole, with some excellent melodies and themes with an excellent finale waiting for us at the end.

© Jurriaan Hage