Transcendence (Crimson Glory album)


Transcendence is the second studio album by Florida heavy metal group Crimson Glory, released in 1988 via Roadracer Records in Europe and MCA Records in United States. It is considered by many to be their finest work. It was recorded at Morrisound Studios.

Writing and recording

Masque of the Red Death is about the story written by Edgar Allan Poe. Eternal World was written as an instrumental for the tour of the band's first record in the Netherlands.
The drums are a combination of both live and sampled drums. The band sampled drummer Dana Burnell performing live drums into a synclavier without any cymbals, and then re-recorded the cymbals live later in order to have complete separation of drums and cymbals. Guitarist Jon Drenning stated "It was a very arduous and time consuming way to do it but at the time it seemed like something we wanted to try to achieve; a pristine, clean sound and true separation of all instruments."

Artwork

The artwork was made by Japanese artist Takashi Terada for the Japanese poster art for the 1985 science fiction film Lifeforce. The announced "Transcendence: Renovatio" version was said to feature new cover art, two demo bonus tracks and more was never released.

Reception

In 2005, Transcendence was ranked number 412 in Rock Hard magazine's book of The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time. Loudwire named it at #15 in their list "Top 25 Power Metal Albums of All Time." ThoughtCo named the album in their list "Essential Power Metal Albums."

Track listing

Personnel