Crimson Glory – ‘Chasing The Hydra’

(BraveWords Records)

Crimson Glory’s Chasing The Hydra arrives with the kind of quiet intrigue that tends to surround legacy acts who’ve been out of the spotlight just long enough to make people wonder if there’s still something left in the tank. The answer, unsurprisingly, is yes, but also… not quite in the way you might hope.

Right off the bat, the album leans hard into atmosphere. There’s a clear effort to balance melody with weight, to keep things dramatic without tipping over into full-on theatrical excess. Sometimes it works. Other times it feels like the band is circling an idea rather than fully committing to it. You get these moments where everything lines up, the riffs, the vocals, the mood and then it sort of drifts off just as it’s about to land.

The production is solid but not particularly memorable. It’s clean enough to give everything space, but there’s a certain flatness to it. The guitars don’t always bite as much as you want them to, and the rhythm section, while competent, rarely pushes things forward in a way that demands attention. It’s one of those mixes where nothing sounds bad, but nothing really jumps out either. You’re never distracted by it, but you’re also not pulled in by it.

Vocally, there’s an interesting push and pull happening. There are stretches where Travis Wills performance feels genuinely inspired, controlled, expressive, and hitting that sweet spot between power and restraint. Then there are other moments where it feels a bit too careful, like the edges have been sanded down. It’s not that the vocals are weak; they just don’t always take the risks that might have elevated the material.

Songwriting is where Chasing The Hydra ends up feeling the most uneven. The band clearly knows how to construct a solid foundation, there are strong openings, well-paced builds, and some genuinely engaging melodic ideas. But a lot of the songs settle into patterns that feel overly familiar. You can almost predict where certain sections are going, which takes some of the excitement out of the experience.

There’s also a tendency to linger a bit too long in certain moods. The darker, more introspective tone is consistent throughout the album, which gives it cohesion, but it also makes the whole thing blur together after a while. A little more contrast, something brighter, faster, or just different, would have gone a long way toward breaking things up.

That said, there are definitely highlights. When the band locks into a groove and lets the dynamics breathe, you get glimpses of what this album could have been. There’s a sense of tension and release that works really well in those moments, and it shows that the core instincts are still there. It just doesn’t happen as often as you’d like.

One of the more frustrating aspects of the album is that it feels like it’s holding back. There’s a polished, almost cautious quality to the whole thing, as if the band is more concerned with maintaining a certain standard than pushing beyond it. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, plenty of albums benefit from restraint but here it comes across as a lack of urgency.

Lyrically, the themes are in line with what you’d expect: introspection, struggle, a bit of mysticism. It all fits the tone of the music, but it doesn’t leave a huge impression. Nothing really sticks with you after the album ends. It’s serviceable, occasionally evocative, but rarely striking.

Pacing is another mixed bag. The album flows well enough from one track to the next, but it doesn’t build toward anything particularly impactful. There’s no real sense of escalation or payoff. It just kind of… continues, and then it’s over. You’re left with the feeling that you’ve listened to something competent, maybe even occasionally good, but not especially memorable.

‘Redden The Sun’ opens things with a confident, mid-paced surge that suggests a stronger start than the album ultimately delivers. There’s a sense of purpose here, tight structure, decent energy but it never quite explodes the way an opener should. It sets the tone more than it grabs you.

‘Chasing The Hydra’ leans heavier into atmosphere, stretching things out a bit. The central ideas are solid, but it feels slightly overextended, like it’s chasing its own momentum without ever catching it. There’s ambition here, just not enough payoff.

‘Broken Together’ pulls things inward, trading scale for a more reflective mood. It’s one of the more cohesive pieces, even if it plays things a bit safe. The emotional angle works, but it doesn’t dig quite deep enough to leave a lasting mark.

‘Angel In My Nightmare’ tries to inject a bit more drama, and for a while it succeeds. There’s a nice tension running through it, though it starts to plateau halfway through. It’s engaging in the moment but fades quickly after.

‘Indelible Ashes’ feels like a midpoint reset. It’s steady, almost to a fault, with a structure that’s easy to follow but hard to get excited about. Nothing here is particularly weak, it just doesn’t stand out.

‘Beyond The Unknown’ aims for something more expansive, and you can hear the band reaching. There are flashes of something bigger, but it never fully comes together. It’s one of those tracks that feels like it should be a highlight yet lands somewhere in the middle.

‘Armor Against Fate’ brings back a bit of urgency, tightening things up and pushing forward with more intent. It’s one of the more direct tracks, which works in its favour. Still, it stops short of being truly memorable.

‘Pearls Of Dust’ slows the pace again, leaning into mood over movement. It’s a decent change of pace, though by this point the album’s tendency to blur together becomes more noticeable. Pleasant, but not particularly striking.

‘Triskaideka’ closes things out on a slightly darker, more deliberate note. It has a sense of finality, even if it doesn’t build to a big conclusion. Like much of the album, it’s competent and cohesive, but ultimately a bit underwhelming.

In a lot of ways, Chasing The Hydra feels like a safe record. It’s the sound of a band that knows its identity and isn’t interested in straying too far from it. That’s fine, and there’s definitely an audience for that kind of consistency. But it also means the album never really surprises you.

At the end of the day, this is one of those releases that’s easy to put on and just let play in the background. It doesn’t demand your full attention, but it doesn’t repel it either. It sits comfortably in that middle ground, enjoyable enough in the moment, but not something you’ll be rushing back to revisit.

There’s potential here, and there are flashes of something more compelling beneath the surface. But as it stands, Chasing The Hydra feels like a missed opportunity to do something a bit bolder. It’s not a bad album by any means, it just never quite rises above being a decent one.

5/10

Essential Track – ‘Indelible Ashes’

Review by Woody