Crimson II - nobody talks about this anymore

[JayKeeley]

General discussion went a bit quiet with Crimson II didn't it? Some people were hoping for this to be album of the year. Is it? Other than the Dan Swano forum, I don't see anyone even talking about this follow up to one of the greatest prog-death albums of all time.

So what happened?

Public opinion these days seems to scream "sell out" at any diversion from aggression. I wonder if Dan Swano was a little too concious about public opinion when writing/recording the album, because to me, Crimson II would have been much better had he toned it down a little and did something along the lines of Purgatory Afterglow using many more clean vocal segments. In other words, Crimson II doesn't sound relaxed - if anything, it sounds a bit forced.

Crimson II sounds a little disjointed to me, and worse still, I switch it off half way through. I don't seem to do that with Purgatory Afterglow or Crimson I.

Am I way off the mark? Do I need to listen to it 100 times before it 'clicks'? Thoughts?

 

[NAD]

I have yet to make it all the way through without walking away, losing interest, or just shutting it off.

So far, I don't like it because everything sounds the same. With the original Crimson every riff and every section was completely distinct, and the new one just seems to plod away. There are some good riffs present, but I wouldn't recognize a single one if I heard it elsewhere.

 

[Black Winter Day]

as a side note, i am listening to crimson for the first time. right. now.

 

[NAD]

Crimson owns. I fell in love with it immediately, and it has only gotten better with each listen.

 

[Black Winter Day]

it's very good. . . almost like they wrote 25 short parts and stuck them all together

 

[JayKeeley]

Crimson I gets better with each listen.

 

[Black Winter Day]

wow. . . it just hit that part towards the end where the music stops and swano goes into that multiple-vocal thing. . .

wow. . .

wow. . .

and then it gets heavy again!

 

[J.]

I must be crazy, but I find myself pulling out older EoS albums like Spectral Sorrows and Unorthodox more than the "classic" EoS.

Crimson II is OK. Not bad. Not great.

 

[NAD]

My favorite Crimson moment is around the 12 minute mark (I think), that riff that leads into the line "Another self-proclaimed king" gives me the chills.

I need to get more EoS, I only have Crimson I & II and Purgatory Afterglow.

 

[JayKeeley]

I need to get more EoS, I only have Crimson I & II and Purgatory Afterglow.

Likewise. I want to get Spectral Sorrows next.

 

[Black Winter Day]

Spectral Sorrows is more deathy than the subsequent albums, but it has a good deal of melody... just don't be expecting 'crimson' and you will be fine.

 

[JayKeeley]

Spectral Sorrows is more deathy than the subsequent albums, but it has a good deal of melody... just don't be expecting 'crimson' and you will be fine.

OK. How would Spectral compare to Purgatory?

 

[Erik]

It's better...

 

[Black Winter Day]

i haven't heard 'purgatory', jaykeely, so i don't know

 

[bloodfiredeath]

I think Crimson II is a 2003 top 10 contender for sure. It's a very crowded field though. Is it Swano's best work? No, but I think it's too bad that alot of people expected such. He raised the bar pretty high by creating so many masterpieces, perhaps Crimson II is a victim of that. I think it's a very good record.

 

[Papa Josh]

I have yet to hear the damn thing!

The only EOS I own is

Purgatory Afterglow
Crimson
Infernal

 

[NAD]

They all say it's "overly melodic, gothengay"
What can I say...It's not really a deathmetal album afterall. What I don't like about Crimson 1 is that it sounds like a deathmetal album in parts. I wanted Crimson 1 to be "death-metal-free" but the others hated the idea and kept adding boring chunky riffs and "forced" me to write "classic" EOS riffs. If I had been the one to decide, the the first Crimson album would have continued the way it goes up until the first fast riff..and after the slaughter of "Alive Again" in Terrorizer mag..I am prepared!! C2 is not for deathmetal fans. It for people that like music and some brutal aswell....

 

[Black Winter Day]

i like that statement

 

[JayKeeley]

Heh, that's exactly why I hate Moontower.

 

[NAD]

I figured out my problem with Crimson II the other night, it all runs together too much for me. The riffs are different, but not unique from one another. However... the fucker is finally starting to grow on me, a handful more listens and I might enjoy it quite a bit.

Also, I couldn't disagree more with Dan's statement. Crimson II is much more death metal than the first Crimson, it just has more keyboards.