Taking a deep dive into the latest Glass Hammer release, Black Light, has been quite a ride. Unsurprisingly for Steve Babb, the only remaining founder member of Glass Hammer, Black Light is a concept album, but before we get to that, the back story is quite amazing.
Steve had begun planning the album a couple of years ago, but an MRI scan found a brain tumour which had been growing, seemingly for years, so work was interrupted while he had surgery to remove the offending tumour. Happily the operation was successful, though it obviously took time to recover from, but once he felt strong enough, he started to rethink the music he’d been planning, and the nature of the project changed. Somehow he had unlocked a creative flow which resulted in Black Light. The story is pretty far fetched, but nevertheless a fun idea. Our hero, supposedly a young Steve Babb, is transfixed by a seventies Black Light poster, and is sucked into a fantastical world where his songs become real characters. Well, something like that! The characters have appeared in Glass Hammer albums over the years, so there is a sense of nostalgia on more than one level, especially for fans of the band.
The music is a bit different from what one might expect from the band, and yet unmistakably Glass Hammer. Over the years, they have always acknowledged their influences, and subtly changed in style from one album to the next. Yes and ELP have been clear influences, and then the Skallagrim series explored a heavier side, referencing Rush and Hawkwind. Black Light is more psychedelic in tone, in keeping with the Black Light poster idea I suppose, and this puts the album in a different light, and is a welcome change of tack. However, this is still very much a prog album, but one that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Babb is playing with us, gently teasing us, alluding to the absurdity of such a concept and musical conceit, whilst at the same time making some superb musical statements.
The album starts with the brief I Stared At It Too Long, the moment our hero succumbs to the hypnotic power of the poster. This bleeds into the first song proper, the immersive Lost Horizons. Babb’s strident bass weaves around, vocal harmonies abound underpinned with floating rhythm guitar and bubbling keyboards. The singers Steve has used, Christopher Galen, Trevor Laake and Olivia Tharpe, work really well, their voices each distinct, but harmonising so smoothly. Lost Horizons is a lengthy track, split into sections with titles that prove that Babb has a sense of humour. Part one is titled ‘Concept album excess – It Begins’. Part two – ‘Is This Still The Same Song?’ – is, to my ears at least, a tribute to Yes, specifically And You And I, though different enough to work! Ferran Ligero’s guitar work nods to Steve Howe respectfully, and is really well done. As the song progresses the eventually ebbs away, and we are Glass Hammer once more. It’s a clever opening piece that will delight long standing fans of the band.
Evermore follows, a reference to an early Glass Hammer album, but sounding very different. It’s the most overtly whimsical psychedelic track here as Babb has a bit of an Itchycoo Park moment, though the middle segment with its dancing flute (which could be a synth!) is firmly prog escapism, and marvellously inventive. Whatever, it’s catchy and memorable.
The epic Return to the Shadowlands references former glories, particularly the much loved Inconsolable Secret, as the first part is a rewrite of The Morning She Woke from that album. Steve can’t resist giving us a clue as part one is called ‘Strangely Familiar To Fans’, but the lyrics are altered to fit the storyline as our hero tries to find the princess he saw in the poster. The band gradually build the piece to a rocking climax, with propulsive drums courtesy of Ken Kristiansen and Babb’s ever inventive bass lines, Ligero providing some tasty guitar licks, but the vocals are the most impressive aspect, Trevor Laake I believe, singing his heart out.
The next three songs are all instrumental, from the incendiary Neon Wizard – The Battle, a prog romp where Babb shows his keyboard prowess to great effect, to the eerie strangeness of The Forest of Forgetting, and finally the more sprightly The Persistence of Memory, where our hero finds himself waking up back in the real world. Olivia Tharpe shines on the shimmering pop-prog of Mercury Rain, a dreamy slice of psychedelia, sung with a sense of innocence and longing, perhaps a nod to the sense of nostalgia for youth and the magic of times past, now lost. The final track, Kaleidoscope Skies, is an epic closing piece. It sums up the rest of the album with a bit of everything, and makes a very satisfying conclusion to a fun album.
Clearly Steve Babb has been through it lately, but has emerged energised. Black Light is an album he can be proud of, an album which works on several levels, and stripping back the layers to reveal those different interpretations is part of the fun of this self deprecating work. One of the albums which will be up there among his best creations.
TRACK LISTING
01. I Stared At It Too Long & Lost Horizons (13:24)
02. Evermore (5:55)
03. Return To The Shadowlands (10:36)
04. Neon Wizard – The Battle (5:05)
05. The Forest Of Forgetting (3:01)
06. The Persistence Of Memory (5:08)
07. Mercury Rain (4:37)
08. It Falls Upside Down (1:03)
09. Kaleidoscope Skies (8:06)
Total Time – 56:53
MUSICIANS
Steve Babb – Keyboards, Bass, Percussion, Backing Vocals
Christopher Galen – Lead & Backing Vocals
Trevor Laake – Lead & Backing Vocals
Olivia Tharpe – Lead & Backing Vocals
Ferran Ligero – Lead & Rhythm Guitar
Ken Kristiansen – Drums
Oliver Day – Acoustic Guitar
ADDITIONAL INFO
Record Label: Independent
Country of Origin: US
Date of Release: 6th November 2026
LINKS
Glass Hammer – Website | Facebook | Bandcamp | YouTube | X
