The group spent the next four years in seclusion, rehearsing and developing their own distinctive look and sound.
This eventually led to the recording of their self-titled debut album, Crimson Glory, in 1986 on Roadrunner Records (Europe).
The band performed throughout Holland and parts of Germany immediately following the release of the LP in the fall of 1986, and were met with much success and acclaim.
The band recorded and released their much-anticipated followup LP, Transcendence, in 1989 for Roadrunner Records (Europe) and MCA Records (USA).
Transcendence contained the band's first hit single, "Lonely", a song that was at the top of the American Radio charts in several major market areas for over 24 consecutive weeks.
Transcendence received rave reviews abroad which led to a very successful tour of North America, Europe and Japan alongside Metallica, Ozzy Osborne, Queensryche, Udo, Doro and Anthrax performing for sold-out crowds everywhere.
The Metal Hammer Festival in Dortmund, Germany was the band's largest show at the time and took place in front of 20,000+ fans in the spring of 1990 with Ozzy Osbourne, Metallica and Queensrÿche.
Crimson Glory recorded and released their third LP, Strange and Beautiful, for Atlantic Records in 1991.
Immediately following the release of Strange and Beautiful, the band kicked off a headlining club tour in the United States which culminated with the biggest show of the tour at the end of the year in Los Angeles, CA alongside Ozzy Osborne, Soundgarden and Alice In Chains at the Concrete Foundations Forum.
Their three LPs, Crimson Glory (Roadrunner Records/1986), Transcendence (MCA Records/1989) and Strange and Beautiful (Atlantic Records/1991) have gained cult status as some of the best prog/power metal music ever recorded.
After a successful but brief US tour for Strange and Beautiful, the band members went their separate ways, taking a hiatus to pursue other musical interests.
The band's primary songwriters, Jon Drenning and Jeff Lords, formed the projects Erotic Liquid Culture (featuring vocalist David Van Landing of the Michael Schenker Group) and Crush (featuring drummer Ravi Jakhotia).
Ben Jackson and Dana Burnell formed the band Parish and afterwards Ben formed The Ben Jackson Group aka Avenging Benji.
Former lead vocalist Midnight retired from the music business to pursue other interests.
- 1995 The Parish Years w/ Ben Jackson and Dana Burnell *Update coming*
Toward the end of 1996, Drenning and Lords knew it was time to reunite and make another Crimson Glory record.
However, in order to create a record of astronomical proportions, the band realized they would have to trace back to their roots, back to the progressive-power metal style that they helped pioneer in the late 1980's.
With the addition of new frontman Wade Black (formerly the vocalist for Tampa-based Lucian Black), new drummer Steve "Doc" Wacholz of Savatage, and the launching of their official website, www.crimson-glory.com, the band was ready to re-emerge into the next millennium, delivering their own unique brand of music in the only way they knew how...with raw passion and power.
The band's most recent record, Astronomica, is the prog/power metal album for which all others have been judged in the new millennium...and beyond.
The reformed Crimson Glory started a tour in early 2000 with a couple warmup shows in Florida, then it was off to Greece with Kamelot and Evergrey.
This was to be their first and last tour as troubles began to brew, and upon returning to the US the band once again went their separate ways.
Ben Jackson and Wade Black teamed up in late 2000 for the short-lived project Sector 9, performing only a handful of live shows with Kamelot before Jackson decided to return to his solo artist status.
Black ventured off to record an album with the project Seven Witches.
Midnight resurfaced with a new website, www.midnightsattic.com (now defunct), and a new acoustic EP simply titled M in late 2001 which was indepentantly released through his website only.
Midnight also released an album entitled Sakada through Black Lotus Records in 2005.
Ben Jackson launched a website in 2001 as well, to support his Ben Jackson Group release entitled Here I Come.
The record is available through his website, as well as a Jeff Lords release entitled G-Lock released in 2003.
In 2005, Ben Jackson released the album All Over You.
Shortly thereafter, Crimson Glory made a major announcement concerning reunion and a possible new album, tenatively entitled Metatron, Lucifer and the Divine Chaos (as yet unreleased).
2006 saw the talks of reunion come to fruition with the Rockwave Festival tour in Greece, celebrating 20 years since the release of their self-titled debut record and featuring performances by both Midnight and Wade Black.
2007 brought Crimson Glory and Wade Black to the West Coast, co-headlining the first annual Bay Area Rock Fest in San Francisco, CA alongside fellow Florida-based band Jon Oliva's Pain.
The two-day festival sold out quickly, and Crimson Glory's performance was heralded as an extraordinary treat for West Coast fans and was met with excellent reviews.
On July 8th, 2009, founding member and original Crimson Glory frontman Midnight passed away from long-term health complications with his family by his side. He was 47 years old. Despite the various issues and conflicts between Midnight and the rest of the band, it was a devastating loss in its truest form for the remaining members. The shock of Midnight's early passing brought Drenning, Jackson, Lords and Burnell together again; following an offer to headline the tenth-annual ProgPower USA festival in Atlanta, GA the band agreed that it would be a fitting tribute to their fallen singer to perform. Nearly 20 vocalists from a wide array of progressive and power metal bands were carefully selected to perform material from Crimson Glory's first two albums, along with Wade Black returning to perform a handful of songs from Astronomica. The show was a huge success and received high praise all around, from both fans and press alike.
It was during the rehearsals and subsequent performance that the band would find their new vocalist, Todd La Torre. Brought in on a whim to help out in rehearsal, it became evident very early on that La Torre was a significantly talented, if completely unknown, singer. Following the ProgPower USA show, the band yet again took a break, with Ben Jackson and Jeff Lords focusing much of their musical effort on their own side projects. During this time, the band was offered a headlining slot on the Triton Power Cruise, which unfortunately never came to fruition due to unforseen complications from within the cruise's organization, and the gig was cancelled.
Jon Drenning remained in contact with La Torre, meeting every once in a while for impromptu, non-band-related jam sessions. There was no question that La Torre had the sound that the band would desire to take them into the next incarnation of Crimson Glory, and following Todd's recorded performances of the band's original material, there was no doubt that La Torre was the guy for the job.
Finally in April of 2010 a decision was made to formally include Todd La Torre as the new frontman of Crimson Glory, and a press release was issued at the beginning of May, which included some of the audio tracks of Todd performing Midnight's vocal parts. The response from the Crimson Militia was nothing short of overwhelming; the fans have their band back with a vocalist who is eerily similar to Midnight, but with his own individual sound.
The elegant beast that is Crimson Glory once again raises high its noble head...are you ready?
Record Label Unknown Major
Type of Label Major
Read more: http://www.myspace.com/crimsonglory#ixzz0tRes94Ze
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