Band:	Crowning Glory
Album:	Path To Glory
Style:	Heavy metal
Release date:	2008
A review by:	GRIGAL

01. Sea Of Dead Dreams
02. The Other Side
03. Sands Of Time
04. In My Head [live]
05. Dead Man's Paradise [live]

Imagine going on a long and eventful journey. You touch down at lots of memorable places but ultimately it dawns on you that it's back home where you find real spiritual fulfilment. Well that's vaguely how I felt on listening to CG's "Path To Glory".

This is a debut release that harks back to the roots of British Metal, at a time when you had no sub-genres - just straightforward pounding Heavy Metal. 'Sea Of Dead Dreams' will have you headbanging like you hadn't done since Iron Maiden's '2 Minutes To Midnight'. 'Sands Of Time' will inspire you to play the same air-guitar you had used for "British Steel", the Judas Priest opus. And whiplash will again feel so sweet and cathartic. The two live tracks in the 2nd part of the CD are yes a cost-effective way of adding something to the CD but they're also a subtle consolidation of the brash spirit of CG's ethos.

At first listen it might be tricky pinpointing the source of this CD's allure. I mean there are bands with tenfold the technical sophistication of CG and exponentially more bands that have had a go at this genre. Ultimately, with CG, it all boils down to a set of sharp songwriting skills and a palpable love for this music. Another major asset of "Path To Glory" is vocalist Robert Alexander whose vocal pipes seem to be made of the same steely fabric as those of Rob Halford, Kai Hansen and Ralf Scheepers.

Like the music, the lyrical aspect is very typical of vintage Metal. You have a theme running through each song but still, there isn't the complexity of, say, a Blind Guardian concept or the introspection of Evergrey. As a verse of 'Dead Man's Paradise' goes, they're genreric "turning wrong to right" in a Manowar sort of way. The aforementioned song has also given rise to a (non-live) video-clip.

This is one of the best demo CDs I've heard in quite a while.