Tag Archives: Rogue

Tad’s Best of 2025

January 11, 2026 Thaddeus Wert

Kruekutt set the table for looking back at 2025 with his excellent post listing his favorite classical and jazz releases of that year. In the same spirit, here are my favorite albums from 2025.

Maybe it’s a function of getting old, but I tended to stick with familiar artists this past year. There are a few that I trust to always produce excellent music, and I usually devote my limited listening time to keeping up with them.

10. Steven Wilson: The Overview
I love everything Wilson releases, even his so-called “pop” albums. The Overview is unabashedly progressive, though, with two side-long tracks that overflow with beautiful melodies. Here’s a conversation Brad Birzer and I had about it.

9. Kevin Keller: Arcadia
This is more classical than rock, and it is simply beautiful. Here’s my review of it when it was first released.

8. Dave Bainbridge: On the Edge of What Could Be
Bainbridge is a phenomenal guitarist with an immediately recognizable style. He combines Celtic, jazz, and rock elements to create a unique sound. On the Edge of What Could Be is a double album chock full of fantastic songs.

7. The Flower Kings: Love
Another excellent album from the Flower Kings. I think they are making the best music of their long career. Here’s the conversation I had with Brad Birzer about our love for Love.

6. Gazpacho: Magic 8 Ball
Another one from some old favorites. However, they sound like they’re having a party this time! Here’s the link to our conversation about it.

5. Glass Hammer: Rogue
Speaking of old favorites, Glass Hammer is a perennial one! Rogue is a fascinating story of a man at the end of his life looking back. Here’s my longer review.

4. Karmakanic: Transmutation
Here’s a new one (for me, at least!). This album has spent quite awhile on my stereo, and I think it’s a beautiful work. Led by Jonas Reingold of Sweden, it features John Mitchell on vocals. The epic title track is terrific.

3. Jonas Lindberg and The Other Side: Time Frames
Another set of songs that is bursting with fun melodies and top notch musicianship. I had the pleasure of interviewing Jonas, and you can read it here.

2: Echolyn: TimeSilentRadioII & VII
Echolyn returns after a long absence with two of their best albums ever. The edit from “Water In Our Hands” is my favorite song of 2025. Here’s our conversation about these albums.

1. Lunatic Soul: The World Under Unsun
My favorite album of 2025 (at least for today!). A double disc of uniformly wonderful songs. Everything Mariusz Duda has done under the Lunatic Soul moniker comes to fruition on this fantastic album.

Check out the extraordinarily informative interview our own Erik Heter conducted with Duda here.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this list of albums from 2025 – it was a very good year! Let us know what your favorites were in the comments. Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful 2026.

Music

Glass Hammer’s Rogue: Joy in the Midst of Regret

April 2, 2025 Thaddeus Wert

Glass Hammer has returned with a new album, Rogue – due out April 11, 2025. Not surprisingly, given the history of this group, it is a stark departure from their previous several albums. Where the Skallagrim Trilogy rocked very hard, and their most recent work, Arise, was an exercise in space rock jamming, Rogue is jumps out of the gate with a burst of pure melodic bliss.

After listening to Rogue nonstop for four days, I am put in mind of some of Glass Hammer’s most enjoyable musical moments, such as Life By Light (Culture of Ascent), Having Caught a Glimpse (The Inconsolable Secret), and The Curse We Weave (Three Cheers for the Broken Hearted), among many, many others. I am tempted to say Rogue represents a return to form, except Glass Hammer has never fallen out of form – each release of theirs is a self-contained gem of excellence. Instead, let’s just say Rogue is a joyful celebration of beautiful melody.

What If, the first track, sets the stage as the protagonist decides to leave his cold and gray home in the north and head south to find a long-lost love – he is hoping to reignite an old romance that he ended years ago. It is a bouncy song that conveys the hopefulness of our hero as he sets out.

Summer! He’s weary of sleet and snow
Summer! Come now and do not go
He’s heading south to the land of his dreams

The Road South is where reality begins to set in. Has he made a mistake leaving his home? Is that a storm ahead? Musically, this song is reminiscent of classic Alan Parsons Project to me. Oliver Day’s lap steel guitar is outstanding – graceful and fluid without sounding shrill.

Tomorrow is one of the most beautiful songs on the album. As our hero wrestles with the memories of all the wrongs he has committed in the past, a voice reassures him,

All will be fine
God is watching over all you do
His eye is on the sparrow and on you

The accompanying melody is appropriately soothing and calming.

Pretty Ghost and Sunshine feature the gorgeous vocals of Olivia Tharpe, along with another pair of winning melodies. On Sunshine, Fred Schendel gives an outstanding performance on lap steel guitar.

Next up is my favorite track on the album, I Will Follow. This is a driving, upbeat, infectious song with an unshakeable earworm for a melody. It’s one of the best songs in the entire Glass Hammer catalog, featuring layered harmonies that should be listened to on headphones to be fully appreciated.

The Wonder Of It All has a synth-driven opening that I find very appealing. One thing I’ve enjoyed over the past few albums has been Glass Hammer’s incorporation of Tangerine Dream-like interludes that feature very cool rhythmic elements. Lyrically, this song seems to be a turning point for our hero:

Oh, I’m weary, yet I’m blessed
For all you’ve given me
The wonder of it all, I’d have to say
That I was here at all
I’ve done so little to deserve
This life you gave me

One Last Sunrise is a terrific instrumental, and Babb really shines on bass and Taurus pedals. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Steve Babb is one of the most inventive bassists working in music today.

Terminal Lucidity, at 10:19, is the longest track, and it is primarily instrumental. Synths, electric piano, and electric guitar weave a seductive web of melody that draw the listener in before an energetic jam gets going. Eventually, it becomes clear that our hero is on his deathbed: “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust/I can hear them calling me”. It was a stark and chilling moment when I first realized the true journey being taken!

Rogue closes with the triumphant and joyful All Good Things. Another uplifting melody (underpinned by Babb’s terrific bass work) brings the story to an emotionally satisfying ending:

This life you gave me
I’ll bring it home, you know
Sunshine in the morning sky
Descending from on high

It seems that, for all intents and purposes, Glass Hammer is now primarily a Steve Babb project. He handles some lead and backing vocals, bass, keyboards, Taurus pedals, guitars, and percussion. Longtime musical partner Fred Schendel plays guitar on Tomorrow and lap steel guitar on Sunshine. Babb has collected a stellar cast of supporting musicians: Thomas Jakob and Olivia Tharpe on vocals, Reese Boyd, David Walliman, and Atillio Calabrese all take a turn on lead guitar, and Oliver Day does a phenomenal job on guitar and lap steel throughout. Ariel Perchuk contributes some excellent synth solos, while Randall Williams and Evgeni Obruchkov provide drum work.

Rogue is one of the most ambitious albums Glass Hammer has attempted, and they pull it off with ease – it is an unalloyed triumph in all respects: conceptually, lyrically, and musically. Taken as a whole, this set of songs is the most satisfying Glass Hammer has provided in many years. I can’t stop listening to it! Meanwhile, the concept of a man wrestling with the demons of his past as he faces death would be daunting for anyone to tackle, but Glass Hammer does it with grace and hope. I can’t recommend Rogue enough to listeners who appreciate and are looking for melodic rock that has depth. It’s my favorite album of 2025, and I don’t see that changing any time soon.

Music

New Album In the Works from Glass Hammer

February 7, 2025 Thaddeus Wert

GLASS HAMMER GOES ROGUE WITH April 11th RELEASE

Glass Hammer’s “Rogue” spins the tale of one man’s fateful, final journey. “He leaves everything he knows behind,” explains composer Steve Babb. “And thinks he’s returning to a place where he once knew happiness, but in reality, his odyssey will sweep him away to somewhere completely unexpected.”

Babb explains that the ten-song album explores themes of regret, heartache, and the mortal salience that comes with age. “Life is fleeting,” he continues. “It’s a heavy topic for an album, but the music isn’t as heavy as our last few releases. Rogue is much more like the Glass Hammer albums our fans refer to as “classic.”

And who’s in the lineup? “It’s no secret that Glass Hammer reinvents itself every few albums,” says Babb. “It’s happened again! This time with a lot of new faces.”

Rogue features performances by Fred Schendel, Reese Boyd, and David Wallimann (GH guitarist 2006-2010). Vocalists Thomas Jakob (Netherlands) and Olivia Tharpe (USA) are new to the band. They’re joined by guitarist Oliver Day (UK), keyboardist Ariel Perchuck (Argentina), drummer Evgeni Obruchkov (Poland), and others. “It’s an international cast of characters,” Babb points out. “A super-talented group that our fans are sure to love.”

The hour-long Rogue is Glass Hammer’s twenty-second studio album. Fans can pre-order autographed copies, t-shirts and downloads on the band’s website. www.glasshammer.com