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Mr Peabody
02-19-2006, 04:22 PM
My previous post only got 8 hits so far but most here seem to be into Prog yet no advice on Glass Hammer so maybe we all should be enlightened together. Glass Hammer's website has music samples and information about the band. To my ears I think you all may be adding them to your collections along with me.

If you don't see the arrows to click to hear the music samples you need to download Quicktime from their website. You music downloaders may already have it but it was new to me.

Dusty Chalk
02-19-2006, 06:52 PM
My previous post only got 8 hits so far but most here seem to be into Prog yet no advice on Glass Hammer so maybe we all should be enlightened together. Glass Hammer's website has music samples and information about the band. To my ears I think you all may be adding them to your collections along with me.

If you don't see the arrows to click to hear the music samples you need to download Quicktime from their website. You music downloaders may already have it but it was new to me.Most people view from work, give it a couple days. Actually, give it a couple weeks, this place is really slow.

Check for Rigor Mortis.

richmon
02-19-2006, 07:32 PM
I've had Chromatree for a while and caught GH at Nearfest 2003. They had a 20 voice choir with them, and the Guitarist from Kansas. Even with all that firepower, they failed to deliver any goosebumps. I'd say the audience reaction to their set was tepid at best, There's something missing in the bands writing imo, they have all the chops and the vintage sound, but there's a cheesy pop element in their writing that rubs me the wrong way. Now there's some excellent moments on Chromatree, but then some cheese hits me and spoils the moment. Maybe it's their christian orientation, that doesn't bother me, but theres no bite mixed in with the bombast.
There's alot of promise and talent in this band, but ultimatly they don't deliver except in small segments.
Just my opinion of course, but there's been several threads on PE about the new album and many echo my verdict and also many praise them. My hope is they'll find some creative spark and release a doozy album, they have big potential, it's just unrealized so far.
I reluctantly type this negative spew, but you coaxed it outta me, and thats what I hear, ymmv.

3-LockBox
02-20-2006, 12:32 AM
There's alot of promise and talent in this band, but ultimatly they don't deliver except in small segments.

My sentiments exactly. I can take them song at a time, but not an entire album.
They follow all the conventions and aestetics of neo-prog, but the writing just isn't there, lyrically or musically. And when they go out on a limb and cover Dan Fogelberg's Longer, they fall flat.

Hey, if you're going to cover a well known pop song like that one, the way YES covered Paul Simon's America, then you need to "hit it outta the park", the way YES did. GH didn't. Its the same pedestrian, passionless effort all throughout their last album Shadowlands. It's almost as though they're playing out of their element.

Dave_G
02-20-2006, 06:20 AM
They are okay but don't really knock me out.

Dave

3-LockBox
02-20-2006, 11:02 AM
BTW: Your signature is pretty funny. I expect many a take on the old 'Most Dangerous Game' story.

BarryL
02-20-2006, 01:13 PM
Even with all that firepower, they failed to deliver any goosebumps. There's something missing in the bands writing imo, they have all the chops and the vintage sound, but there's a cheesy pop element in their writing that rubs me the wrong way.

I have a few of their CDs and they are okay at best. There's some good material on Rex Lex, and some good material on Inconsollable Secret, but its not that good. Richmon is right, there's no goosebump factor.

I've never seen them, but I suspect they're all too polite. They need some angst, some emotion. Maybe they're afraid that the glass hammer will shatter if hit with too much force.

Also, the last listen I gave it appeared that the lead singer sings with a lisp. If so, maybe they try to write in a way that covers this up. I've never gone back to test this theory because I seem to want to avoid listening to Glass Hammer.

I thought their NearFest live disk was pretty good, and may be a good intro to the band.

3-LockBox
02-20-2006, 01:40 PM
IAlso, the last listen I gave it appeared that the lead singer sings with a lisp.
"Not that there's anything wrong with that..."






Barry, we have a "don't ask, don't tell" policy here at RR. We may be asking you to attend our 'Valuing Human Diversity' seminar, possibly very soon.




;)

Mr Peabody
02-20-2006, 02:04 PM
Ouch! but I did ask and this is why. It's difficult to get a handle on a band from samples.

Mr Peabody
03-03-2006, 09:59 PM
Well guys, I bought Chronometree, and.... I liked it. The album kept my interest and flowed. I enjoyed the talent of the keyboardist. Really on this album there aren't much vocals or lyrics to criticize. It's far from instrumental but the vocals are sort of sprinkled around. I don't know what you mean by "pop" but I found the song Perfect Carosel very good. After reading your posts again and thinking about the album the temperment is sort of even but it didn't keep me from enjoying the album. I guess I was more focused on a different aspect of the album. On the other hand their approach or "temperment" wasn't much different than many other Prog bands. I can't think of many off the top of my head that does seem to convey real emotion. On Absentia I'd say PT does. Opeth has a certain feel to Damnation. Much of Kansas does for me. I can also get into a technical album for the musicianship. There's not many Prog bands that approach a song like Springsteen, take a plain song and whip it up into an emotional milk shake.

Your comments make me think of the Dana Carvey bit when he is doing a parity of a rock star and does that song Chopping Broccoli. The first time I saw that I was crying I laughed so hard.

richmon
03-04-2006, 02:25 PM
Well guys, I bought Chronometree, and.... I liked it. The album kept my interest and flowed. I enjoyed the talent of the keyboardist.
Glad somebody around here likes the band, I pulled this out after reading your post, sometimes you have to be in the mood for a certain album, I find certain albums are better in the daytime or nightime, or some are sunday morning music, etc etc.
Ehh, today's listen didn't do anything to change my opinion. I had just listened to a recent pickup Gerard's 'Ruins of a Glass Fortress' and that had me playing air keys, guess that album is more my cup-o-keyboards.

Mr Peabody
03-04-2006, 02:49 PM
You know music is like that where sometimes you'll love an album and listening in a different mood or energy level and the same album you will take it out. I will have to check into Gerard.

Mr Peabody
03-04-2006, 03:02 PM
No sample for Glass Fortress. The Amazonian's only gave it 3 stars. I have to say though Japanese Prog sounds intreging.

As a trivial side note, I have a couple albums by Loudness which is a Japanese Metal band.

richmon
03-04-2006, 03:23 PM
I saw Gerard at NearFest 2003 and liked them, a japanese ELP I thought. Reading reviews of their albums scared me off tho, alot of lukewarm comments. Then I started listening to one of those internet prog radio stations and heard three Gerard songs over a weeks time, all three sounded great. So in I plunged and, I like it big time. Guess you just can't go by reviews you read, you gotta hear it with your own ears sometimes.
Interested in trading some keyboard CDR's? - drop me a email @ rrichmon44@junodotcom - I'd offer Gerard and Trace's S/t .

Mark111867
03-05-2006, 08:06 AM
Hi. I had been thinking about getting a GH cd for a while. Found their web-site and they sounded interesting. I bought their most recent release, "The Inconsolable Secret", a doulble cd. The first cd is titled "The Knights" which sounds much like ELP/Triumvirat. The second cd is called "The Lady", which is more acoustic and medeival sounding. I like "The Lady" better than "The Knights." If you dig the proggresive rock deal, they might be worth checking out.