"Chasing The Hydra" is your first new album in 26 years. After so many upsides and downs, eventually the water entered the groove. How did it come together after all these things you have passed?
The simple answer is that it came together after we revamped the lineup, to include adding our longtime friend and guitarist, Mark Borgmeyer, aka, "Borgy," and then searching for and finding a non-temporary replacement singer, that being Travis Wills. Of course, all of that took time, but we had a game-plan ever since the idea to resurrect the band came about, which was roughly 10 years after singer Todd LaTorre departed to join Queensrÿche. Part of that game-plan was to write an album that took over where our second and most popular album, "Transcendence," left off. According to fans and dozens of positive reviews, we seem to have succeeded.
How did Travis Wills joining the band change the band’s dynamic?
Hardly any, if at all. Travis has some of the natural vocal inflections that our original singer, Midnight, had, plus a high vocal range as well. So, the dynamic of the music remains pretty much unchanged with the exception of this new album being more modern and a tad more aggressive. In fact, I'd say that the dynamic changed more on our third and fourth albums, and one of them even had our original vocalist singing on it.
BraveWords Records emphasizes a strong global distribution network and physical releases. How important was it for you to have "Chasing The Hydra" available on CD and vinyl?
Lots of people who are into legacy bands or bands from the 80s are avid collectors, and of course, vinyl never really went out of style in Europe, which happens to be where we are the most popular. So, yes, physical releases are important and labels know this, including ours, which is both BraveWords and then also No Remorse throughout Greece.
You signed with BraveWords Records for this album. How has their massive background in metal media and promotion benefited the band?
The album literally was just released, so it's still a bit early to know when/how/where we are benefiting, etc., but considering that our label has representatives who are musicians themselves, and then factoring in BraveWords promotional track record, we have high hopes of making a successful comeback and feel confident that they do, too.
"Each Hydra head is symbolic of a hurdle or challenge to get over or conquer."
The band has been touring heavily over the past year. How are the fans reacting to the new material played live?
Anytime a band plays material with which the crowd is not familiar, it can be a mixed bag. In our case, the fans are there to hear the old classics. That's a given, so for the most part we stuck to that. At a few gigs we'd sneak in our first single, "Triskaideka," but given the mid-tempo nature of that song combined with it being foreign to most of the audience, we decided to just stick to material from albums 1 and 2 until the new record was officially released.
Knowing you are considered pioneers of the American power metal scene, was there any pressure to live up to those early days while writing "Chasing The Hydra"?
Sure, of course there was pressure. No matter what you do in this business there's pressure. But as far as winning over the fans of our old catalog, namely the first two records, we were confident in the writing, which doesn't mean there wasn't some anxiety in waiting to see the full blown, unmoderated reactions.
What themes drove you to write the lyrics for “Chasing The Hydra”?
Travis would be best suited to answer this question, as he wrote the lyrics and I wrote the music on this one. I do know that overcoming obstacles in relationships entered into the equation to some degree. Each Hydra head is symbolic of a hurdle or challenge to get over or conquer.
Which track best represents the album as a whole?
There's too much diversity, both in subject matter as well as composing, to pick one song to represent the whole album. I consider this a good thing, by the way.
What was the biggest challenge during the making of this album?
Getting it done in the allotted time and under budget was a bit of a challenge. The production took place in a few different studios, so finding time availability that worked with our schedules was also challenging at times.
What do you want listeners to take away from this release?
At the top of this list is that Crimson Glory, the band, the entity, or whatever the case may be, is not just one or two people. The original recipe changed the first time with the unfortunate and untimely passing of our original singer, Midnight. This was obviously out of our control. But then it changed more recently after one fourth of the remaining founding members did not receive an invitation to resurrect the band, which was largely a business decision. In any event, this left three fifths of the founding members, that being Ben, Dana, and myself. If we recap, back before the advent of the internet, industry people would want to talk to the lead singer and/or the lead guitarist. None of the rest of us contested this back then, probably because there were some very rare exceptions, but unfortunately, it all eventually led to this common misconception that the people who talk the most must do the most, or worse, that they do everything. For example, all the song writing. So, if people are digging what they're hearing on”Chasing The Hydra”, I'd like the listener to take away that great Crimson Glory records can be made without the original recipe, including future records.
Did touring before recording help shape the album?
Most of the songs were written, arranged, and demoed before touring. So, I guess the answer is no, playing the songs live had no real influence on the recordings, with the one exception, that being Dana writing his drum parts to click versions of the demos and then rehearsing and refining his parts in a live environment within a rehearsal facility. In some instances I'd show up and we'd make it drum and bass night. So, yes, the whole live drum aspect certainly plays a large and influential role in how the recording turns out. But all in all, it's everyone's thumbprint so-to-speak on the record that makes it truly Crimson Glory.... Borgy, Travis, Ben, Dana, and myself. Plus, we have a new live keyboardist, Jon Pyres, who adds an atmospheric Crimson Glory flare to what we bring live.
What are the band's plans for the rest of 2026 now that the album is finally out in the world?
Supporting the new album is our plan. The more new songs we can add to our live song list, the better. Of course, we realize we will always need to play the old classics, which we still enjoy. But there's no feeling like playing something new and current, and seein' heads bangin'.
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