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Anyone not totally familiar with where Gloryhammer were playing tonight need not have worried about getting lost, all they had to do was follow the steady stream of punters dressed in regulation black and carrying inflatable hammers. Po-faced hipsters look on in disbelief and tut as they walk past the queue made up of Gloryhammer fans adorned with plastic devil horns on their heads, or in some cases – unicorn horns. Yes, folks, a Gloryhammer gig is not for the straight-laced, best to check those inhibitions at the door, say “Fuck it, count me in”, and go with the flow. In this case, that “flow” involves grinning from ear to ear in true Smylex-style from the opening moments of the familiar intro of Tom Jones’s ‘Delilah’ to the last strains of the outro music (in this case Quo’s version of ‘Rockin’ All Over The World’).
Opening what is a real value-for-money triple-bill (and judging by how busy the venue is from the off; a very popular one) are Finnish melodic modem metal outfit Arion. Even at the un-metal-like time of 6:30 pm, the five-piece take to the stage like they are closing an all-dayer at Madison Square Garden, and within seconds they have the massed throng in front of them (including many who know every word to every song) pumping their fists in the air as one. Led by the impressive vocals of Lassi Vääränen, Arion romp through a confident thirty-minute set that shows great promise for the future. Incredibly tight playing, especially from guitarist/main songwriter Iivo Kaipainen, and powerhouse drummer Topias Kupiainen – who is in serious danger of drowning out his bandmates with his hard-hitting drum work on the likes of ‘Punish You’, but it is the catchy, melodic and bombastic moments of ‘Bloodline’ and ‘At The Break Of Dawn’ that linger on the most. What’s that sound? The sound of heaps of impressed Arion newbies adding the band to their Spotify playlist, or if you are old-school; the sound of heaps of impressed Arion newbies heading to the merch desk to seek out the latest (and rather good) CD ‘Vultures Die Alone’.
So, what has sixteen legs, four guitarists, three vocalists, and offers up more fun and enjoyment than all of the combined offerings from Marvel Studios over the last few years? Swedish purveyors of Northern and Viking mythology-fuelled power metal Brothers of Metal, that’s who. Before they took to the stage, and because of the size of the headliner’s production, there was a genuine concern about where the hell would the seven non-drumming bandmembers – all in facepaint – all stand. But once the stage lights rose, the lack of available stage didn’t matter as the band put on a livewire show memorable enough to give the headliners a run for their money. Fronted by the chills-inducing vocals from the incredible Ylva Eriksson – Voice of the Valkyries (a very apt name), Brothers of Metal are always going to find a warm reception in the Celtic nations of the UK, as well as Ireland as so much of their music has a folk influence – ‘Death of the God of Light’, and ‘The Mead Song’ both have a jig-like feel, but played at 100mph by a bunch of extras from Neil Marshall’s gonzo ‘Centurion’ movie. Blood, guts, mead, and metal: what a combination. On the subject of mead; shoutout to Mats Nilsson – Tongue of the Gods for dropping a shoutout to William Wallace during ‘The Mead Song’ where the band got the crowd down on their knees only to spring to life on his command, but not until after uttering a Wallace (okay, Mel Gibson) like “HOLD…HOLD”. An utterly spellbinding set, bonkers, but utterly spellbinding nonetheless.
Any thoughts of how could the headliners possibly follow the good-time chaos of Brothers of Metal quickly evaporated as soon as the traditional cardboard cut-out of Tom Jones was placed front and centre and ‘Delilah’ began piping out from the PA. Bellowed back towards the stage by the boisterous crowd, arms raised as the crowd sway in time, inflatable hammers popping up and down like some fucked-up version of Whack-a-mole…yep, this was Gloryhammer’s audience alright and they had gathered tonight with only one thing in mind: PARTY!
‘The Seige of Dunkeld (In Hoots We Trust)’ gets the party started and with new vocalist Sozos Michael now wielding the Astral Hammer in the role of Angus McFife, Gloryhammer don’t seem to have missed a stride since the departure of outgoing vocalist Thomas Winkler. Judging by the number of crowd surfers going over the barrier, and the ferocity of the pits (at one point towards the end of the set it seems to have boiled over, but thankfully calm is restored), the Gloryhammer faithful have warmly accepted Michael into the ranks. During ‘Gloryhammer’, the cloaked figure of Zargothrax is warmly welcomed by a chorus of boos, and of course, he hams up like the pantomime villain that he is. As the title of the song is thrown out by the band it is met by a throaty response from a few hundred fists in the air, the volume rising even louder once a goblin invades the stage and Michael/McFife wrestles the Astral Hammer from him.
At times Gloryhammer is the result of metal and EDM crossing streams of piss at the urinal trough; ‘Fly Away’ in particular has a chiptune feel to it, and ‘Universe on Fire’ is only a few degrees (or a few bpm) away from happy hardcore, but then the intro to ‘Rise of The Chaos Wizards’ is pure metal through and through, with the rest of the track (as well as ‘Masters of The Universe’ and ‘Legend of the Astral Hammer’ amongst many others) settling into more traditional power metal fare.
Daft, cheesy fun – yep. Fucks given by the crowd – zero.
This tour continues throughout September until it reaches its conclusion in Dublin on the 14th. More information here.
All images – Dave Jamieson
