“The silver masks have returned to the light. After more than two decades of anticipation, the legendary Crimson Glory are back with a monumental new album, ‘Chasing The Hydra’. With a fresh voice in Travis Wills and the core founding members leading the way, the band is ready to reclaim its throne in the progressive metal pantheon. Today, at Sound Stories by Jo and metalwar.gr, we have the immense honor of talking with founding member and bassist Jeff Lords about the resurrection, the ‘Hydra’s’ new heads, and their upcoming headlining ritual at the Chania Rock Festival in Greece.”

12+1 questions

Jo: Welcome Jeff! It is a true honor. Chasing The Hydra is finally here. After so many years, how does it feel for you personally to be back in the studio creating new Crimson Glory music? Did you ever feel that this “Hydra” would never be caught?
Jeff: It feels great, not just to be creating new music, but also knowing that in revamping the band we’re clearing the path for continual new material, versus the risk of falling into past patterns of inertia.

Jo: As a founding member, you’ve played with some incredible vocalists. What was that “magic moment” when you heard Travis and realized he was the one to carry the Crimson Glory torch into 2026?
Jeff: Mostly when I asked him to cover Painted Skies, which he did, and it wasn’t but a day or two later that he was demoing vocals on some new material. Travis could emulate some of the vocal inflections of our original singer, Midnight, but he also had a cool vibe of his own.

Jo: You’ve always been a key part of the band’s musical direction. How did the songwriting for Chasing The Hydra differ from the Transcendence era? Did you try to replicate the old “formula,” or did you let the new energy dictate the riffs?
Jeff: When it comes to riffs, I’ve never suffered from writer’s block. Song arrangement, on the other hand, which is probably one of the most important aspects of songwriting, can be challenging at times. I nonetheless set out to bridge the gap between albums 2 and 5, meaning, it was not happenstance nor purely subliminal influences seeping out. It was intentional. I wrote many of the key riffs you hear on the debut and Transcendence, from Masque of the Red Death, to Eternal World, to Mayday, to Queen of the Masquerade, and others.
And on the title track of the new album, I deliberately did a tipping of the hat to Red Sharks, but rather than a riff that is descending, I made it an ascending riff. Since I wrote the opening and closing riff in Red Sharks, I had no qualms whatsoever with borrowing from myself. A few reviews, and I mean a few out of dozens and dozens, attempted to scold us because of this, which I honestly found weird. Like, yes, we know it sounds similar.

Jo: Your bass playing has always provided a melodic yet solid foundation. In new tracks like Broken Together, how did you approach the low end to match the modern production standards while keeping that classic prog-power feel?
Jeff: There was nothing new or different from other songs in the way I approached Broken Together. I feel I played the part that’s right for the song, albeit, it’s a simpler approach than others due to the nature of the song, including the slower tempo.

Jo: The core trio is back together. How has your relationship with Ben Jackson and Dana Burnell evolved over the decades? Is the “brotherhood” stronger now that you are all more mature musicians?
Jeff: Like I alluded to in a previous answer to a question, we’re stoked to be back and doing it all again, only this time with a spiritedness that was honestly not possible in the past. It’s a subject that cannot be touched on lightly, yet, fully understood. Suffice it to say we have a clean slate, and it’s Glorious.

Jo: Chania Rock Festival – August 1st: You are returning to Greece for a headlining show in Crete. You’ve played many shows in Greece (Gagarin, Principal), but the fans here treat you like royalty. What is it about the Greek audience that makes every show feel like a “homecoming” for you?
Jeff: You actually answered your own question on this one when you asked what makes shows in Greece feel like a homecoming for us. For starters, we love the country itself, the culture, the history, the food, etc., but yes, the Greek audiences go berserk when we play there. Singing along to every song. Having said that, we give our all, regardless of the country we’re playing in. So, I don’t know if your question wouldn’t best be answered by Greek fans as to why they treat us like royalty.

Jo: The silver masks are iconic. In 2026, do you still feel that sense of mystery when you see fans in the crowd wearing them? Does the “mystique” of Crimson Glory still feel relevant in the age of Instagram?
Jeff : Occasionally we see fans in the crowd wearing various types of masks, including metallic ones, and when we do, we know that’s a die hard fan. As far as the mystique, we feel the music stands on its own merits, plus, since quite a few bands wear masks these days, the consensus in our ranks was that this phase of our career should be put behind us now.

Jo: When you released the first teaser, the metal world exploded. Were you nervous about the fans’ expectations after such a long hiatus, or were you confident in the new material from day one?
Jeff: We were confident in what we did, yes, because if we weren’t confident, there’d really be no reason to do it. But this didn’t mean that there were no feelings of anxiety in anticipating the fan’s reactions. We are elated to see such positive feedback.

Jo: Looking back at the 80s, you were ahead of your time. Do you see the influence of Crimson Glory in modern progressive metal bands today? How does it feel to be a “godfather” of the genre?
Jeff: I don’t feel we’re strictly progressive, for one thing, which, to me, works in our favor. I think we have elements of what many prog metal bands have, but I like to think that we don’t go over people’s heads, which is easy to do if one is not really careful when it comes to self-indulgence. Most of the listening population do not care one iota about odd time signatures or what mode you’re playing in. For us it’s cool to sneak in odd time signatures here and there, but we know the vocal and guitar hooks have got to be there. CG has always been about melody, at least as far as the cornerstone albums go.

Jo: With Chasing The Hydra being a brand new chapter, how do you balance the setlist for the upcoming tour? Is it hard to pick which “classic” to leave out to make room for new anthems like Redden the Sun?
Jeff: We obviously want to play a lot of songs off the new album live. But at the same time, we understand that fans in tune with our legacy so-to-speak are expecting the old classics. I suppose a lot of it will depend on crowd response when playing the new stuff. We shall see.

Jo: How has the partnership with your new label helped the band stabilize and focus strictly on the music for this release?
Jeff: We’re given creative freedom by our label, which is the way it’s pretty much always been, with the exception of Strange & Beautiful, which was on Atlantic here in the states. The producer on S & B brought in an outside lyricist on a few things and we even covered a few songs from other bands. There was some tension in the studio because of this. Midnight and I were opposed to it. As far as being focused, we’ve been laser-focused on the new tunes themselves even before we signed contracts with our new label, BraveWords Records. In fact, I’ve had to interject from time to time that I’m so focused on music that it’s hard to find the time to do other things that are required of me.

Jo: Jeff, is this the beginning of a long-term plan? Can we expect more albums and maybe a worldwide “Transcendence” anniversary tour, or are you taking it one step at a time?
Jeff: As far as a Transcendence anniversary tour, probably not. Consider that we’ve already been out and played stuff off the first two albums exclusively, so doing a Transcendence tour in the wake of this new release could be counterproductive. We’re proud of our past, sure, but we’re also well into a new chapter, to now include a new lineup. This means new horizons and past patterns of inertia hopefully a thing of the past. As far as a long-term plan, we’ve never wanted to take 10 year hiatuses. Naturally, we want to keep pumping new stuff out. But certain events prevented it in the past.

Jo (+1): If you could go back to the Lost Reflection days and give one piece of advice to your younger self about the journey ahead to 2026, what would it be?
Jeff: Don’t be merely tolerated, and be genuine in your craft. Find the right people if you feel you’re with the wrong ones. Don’t go along to get along.

Thanks for the opportunity!

Jeff Lords.

“Crimson Glory has always been more than just a band; they are a mystical experience that transcends time. ‘Chasing The Hydra’ is proof that true artistic fire never fades. We thank Jeff Lords for this deep dive into the band’s new era and we eagerly await their return to Greek soil this August. The myth continues.”

Interview – Text: Joanna Gonas