I always wanted to do two reviews in one, a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hide kind of deal, about the same album. The latest album of ex-Crimson Glory vocalist Midnight now offers me the opportunity to do so. So, what will follow is actually two opinions by the same person. The first one will be the opinion of a man who gre up listening to Crimson Glory (1986) and Transcendence (1989). The second one will be the opinion of a reporter that doesn't consider the aforementioned albums as something important in the music industry and sees Sakada as a different entity.
Midnight is well known in the Metal music pantheon for being the vocalist of Crimson Glory during their best period. The first two albums are considered as monuments in the history of American Metal and though their third release, Strange And Beautiful (1991), was not a bad album, it was light years away from the band's past. After his departure from Crimson Glory Midnight vanished in the same haze he had created while wearing the known mask in the early years of Crimson Glory. He reemerged in the music scene with the release of a mini CD back in 2000 simply entitled M.
If I had to describe Sakada as a fan of Crimson Glory I would simply use one word: disaster. Yes, this is a terrible piece of work that lacks musical orientation and definitely has nothing to do with the glorious past of the artist. His voice has cracked up (probably after all those years of absence), there are compositions I can only consider as insults (for example the Cat Song) while those sounding a bit closer to Metal have nothing to offer in the year 2005. In my opinion Midnight should have stayed in the shadows and should have avoided ruining his reputation.
As a journalist I take for a fact that Midnight never signed any contract somewhere clearly stating he will always prefer music in the same vain as the first two Crimson Glory albums. After all, I am pretty sure those who have heard his mini CD knew what to expect from Sakada. Sakada is an album done by a specific person. Mentioning Midnight only as a singer I think is too confiding for his persona. In this album he experiments with lots of musical influences. From Post Rock to Psychedelic Rock and even country music. This alchemy does not always work of course but I am giving him a break since this is his first attempt as a solo artist.
All in all I praise the fact that he's not trying to imitate his glorious past by offering something that sounds like Crimson Glory... but it is not Crimson Glory.
So on which side do YOU need to align with? I don't know. Listen to the album and figure things out on your own. As for me... well, let me just say that I still whistle the bridge of Lonely when I've got the blues.