The under-appreciated early prog metal band, Crimson Glory, formed as early as 1979, solidifying their lineup and recording their debut album in the mid-80s. (I first learned of them many years later, thanks to one of my metal mentors who I've mentioned before in this blog, Chris Hare.) The sound was akin to early Queensryche, with maybe a slightly more power metal drive to it. The goofy hair and costumes looked like a lot of the bands of that time, although the masks they wore pretty much all the time in public made them stand out for the extra helping of cheese. But where they really stood out was in the vocal department: singer Midnight is surely one of the all-time greatest metal voices. Unfortunately, he was pretty unreliable too, and so was in and out of the band until his untimely death in 2009.
Crimson Glory borrowed some of their early sound from the NWOBHM movement, and their driving, dual-guitar, riff heavy compositions on the first album are classic, both catchy and inventive for the time. Their second album, Transcendence, is widely regarded as their best, but I'm including Mayday, off their eponymous debut, below. I like the first album's pure, almost innocent, approach and the vocals are just amazing. The song really shows off Midnight's pipes, and at 2:59 is the shortest (and fastest) song on the album.
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