Warthur GloryHammer's third album offers us Legends From Beyond the Galactic Terrorvortex, but they certainly sound a lot like the stories from this side of the vortex we heard back on Space 1992. (They even repeat the trick of including a bonus disc of orchestral arrangements of the songs on some editions.)

This is ultimately not a bad thing: Space 1992 was enjoyably cheesy symphonic power metal which had a sense of humour about itself, another 50-odd minutes of much of the same will be welcome to those who are enthusiastic for the material (though the impression I get is that the band regard the whole thing as a big goof and don't actually care as much as their fans do).

That said, the saga of Angus McFife is supposed to span 21 albums. If this isn't just another joke, the band had better start finding ways to progress and develop and experiment with their sound, because here they risk falling into a formulaic approach which, whilst it hasn't gotten old yet, would surely get old if we have a bunch more albums along basically identical lines.

Still, fast guitars and drumming, stirring choral backing vocals, yelled dialogue, orchestral stings, and keyboard flourishes are all present and correct: all the pieces of the GloryHammer puzzle are here and they're implemented perfectly well. Time will tell whether they push forwards into new territory or descend into a rut.

Warthur Symphonic power metal heroes GloryHammer debuted with this album proving the value of learning to walk before you try to run. Whilst they cranked up the symphonic aspect of their sound, went for an even more bizarre and silly storyline, and generally turned everything up to 11 for their followup, Space 1992, on Tales From the Kingdom of Fife they prove themselves to be perfectly competent purveyors of comparatively straight-ahead symphonic-tinged power metal (if with somewhat tongue-in-cheek lyrics) in the vein of Rhapsody/Rhapsody of Fire, with perhaps a few pinches of influence from elsewhere. (Some of the spookier bits of narration put me in mind of Bal-Sagoth.)

It's all good fun - but it doesn't stand out from the power metal pack, in part because the parody is so deliberate that they hit more or less all the same points other symphonic power metal fans do. Worth getting if you're sold on GloryHammer and want to dig into the roots of their sound (and the Angus McFife mythology), but I'd say Space 1992 is the better introduction to what they're all about. For me, the joke's palled a bit; there's just a bit of an air of insincerity to the whole thing which makes it less fun than bands who do this sort of thing and actually buy in fully.

Warthur With a title deliberately crafted to engage the nostalgia of nerds who remember the early 1990s glory years of Warhammer 40,000 and other such Brit-fantasy games and stories, and a symphonic power metal sound which would meet the standards of legends of the genres like Rhapsody, Gloryhammer's Space 1992: Rise of the Chaos Wizards is fifty minutes of pure fun. Some editions include a reimagining of the album recorded in conjunction with an orchestra (with the songs retitled to reflect the extensive rearrangements involved), but the main event is solid and symphonic enough by itself that this isn't absolutely necessary and you shouldn't beat yourself up about it if your copy doesn't have it. Alright, but the joke wears thin after a bit.

DippoMagoo Christopher Bowes sure is a master of gimmicks. First, he formed pirate metal band Alestorm, who have become very successful over the years, due to their unique sound and addictive sing along anthems. Then in 2012 he started a new fantasy themed power metal band called Gloryhammer, whose 2013 debut Tales From the Kingdom of Fife provided some very enjoyable epic power metal, to go along with some hilarious lyrics and narration, as the band fully embraced the cheesier sides of both genres. With their second full length album Space 1992: Rise of the Chaos Wizards, the band has gone even further into the realms of silliness, adding a sci-fi twist to their already engaging concept, while musically the album goes further towards establishing their own sound. All of this has resulted in an album that stands above its predecessor, and is possibly the best album Christopher Bowes has been involved with to date.

Musically, Rise of the Chaos Wizards takes what worked on the debut, and goes much further with it. Where the debut was mostly straight-forward power metal, enhanced by the silly lyrics and occasional symphonic elements, on this album they have gone all in and become a full fledged symphonic power metal band. I was initially surprised by the title track, which opens with the orchestra and choirs leading the way, and this carries on throughout a song that very much feels like a sillier, more fun version of Rhapsody. One difference, though, is that while the guitars are mostly secondary to Christopher's keyboards and the orchestra, they do come out in full force for the solo section, and the track is definitely heavier than anything on Luca Turilli's latest album.

The symphonic elements are quite prominent throughout the album, giving the album an even more epic, more cinematic feel, especially during the aforementioned title track and the near 10 minute closing track “Apocalypse 1992”, but on the whole this is still very much a power metal album, with the guitars still very clear in the mix most of the time. Most tracks are as fast paced as you'd expect, and obviously there’s a ton of insanely addictive choruses and excellent vocal melodies, as any power metal fan would expect. I find the keyboards to be very memorable on this album as well, as they at times have a very cheesy sound to them, such as on the ultra catchy and very 80's rock sounding “Universe on Fire” which is by far the lightest track on the album, as well as one of my favorites, due to that insane chorus and Thomas Winkler's vocals. Another important elements of the album is of course the concept. I generally don't care for the concepts on Rhapsody albums, and I often find their narrations to be excessive, but on this album Gloryhammer has done a great job of inserting in some humorous narrations that explain the plot well, without ever becoming a major distraction, and there certainly aren't any throwaway tracks where the narration takes over.

One thing required for a successful symphonic power metal album is good vocals. Thankfully, this is another area where Gloryhammer excels. I was impressed by Thomas Winkler on their debut, and this time around he sounds even more impressive. He has a very dramatic delivery which fits in great with the music, and it often sounds like he's deliberately trying to sound as cheesy as possible while still singing well, and he pulls this off wonderfully. His pop sounding vocals on “Universe on Fire” are especially brilliant, while on more epic songs like the title track and “Goblin King of the Darkstorm Galaxy”, he sounds much more powerful.

The songwriting quality on Rise of the Chaos Wizard is extremely consistent. Every song is fantastic, and there's enough variety that it never starts to blend together. Some of my favorite tracks include the title track, with its amazing use of orchestras and choirs, the extremely addictive “Goblin King of the Darkstorm Galaxy” with it's incredible chorus, “, the speedier, more straight-forward power metal tracks “The Hollywood Hootsman”, where Thomas uses some pretty epic wails towards the end, the ultra cheesy and melodic “Universe on Fire”, which would probably feel out of place on some metal albums, but fits in great with Christopher Bowes and his crazy sense of humor, and the closing track “Apocalypse 1992”, which starts out fairly upbeat, before an ominous voiceover comes in, and from there the song takes a dark turn, becomes much more intense, and never lets up. Oddly enough, for someone who specializes in silly gimmicks and sing along choruses, I find Christopher Bowes always delivers big when he attempts more bigger, more challenging compositions, and this is probably his best yet. The combination of the heavy guitars, cinematic sounding orchestras, narrations and incredibly vocals, all add up into one amazing track.

I was expecting great things from Rise of the Chaos Wizards, being a longtime fan of Alestorm, as well as a fan of Tales From the Kingdom of Fife, but if anything Gloryhammer have outdone themselves this time, and have produced one of my favorite albums of 2015, as well as already one of my most played albums of the year. Simply put, this is symphonic power metal done right, and is highly recommended for any fans of the genre, as well as obviously for existing fans of the band and Christopher Bowes.

(originally written for myglobalmind.com: http://myglobalmind.com/2015/09/24/gloryhammer-space-1992-rise-of-the-chaos-wizards-review/)

adg211288 Tales from the Kingdom of Fife is the debut full-length album from Scottish power metal act Gloryhammer. The band features among their number Christopher Bowes, frontman of folk-power metal pirates Alestorm, although in Gloryhammer he only takes on the role of keyboardist, with Thomas Winkler (Emerald) handling the vocals. Tales from the Kingdom of Fife is a concept album revolving around an alternate history Scotland, a land in which dragons and magic exist.

Sounds like your typical cheesy power metal effort on paper doesn’t it? In all fairness it is just that, especially lyrically, with song titles including The Unicorn Invasion of Dundee, Silent Tears of Frozen Princess and The Epic Rage of Furious Thunder. I suspect though that Gloryhammer’s full on endorsement of power metal clichés may well be at least part of the intent behind the album. The music itself however isn’t the most over the top I’ve heard from a symphonic-inclined power metal act, which is the particular niche of the genre that Gloryhammer falls into. It is definitely quite the epic sound though, as well as catchy. Most important though is that Gloryhammer have created a fun album in Tales from the Kingdom of Fife.

Nothing particularly breaks the mould here, but the album makes me smile and in all honestly some of the results that Gloryhammer have come up with instantly strike me as superior to some of the more serious power metal albums out there. The songs are all good but are quite across the board with a couple coming over as being good but filler songs (Silent Tears of Frozen Princess, Hail to Crail), and a couple having a really addictive quality that I know is going to keep me coming back to them over the rest of the album (The Unicorn Invasion of Dundee, Angus McFife). The rest are somewhere in between, with Quest for the Hammer of Glory being the best of the rest. The band has a great energy, and Thomas Winkler’s performance in particular is excellent.

Part of the reason that power metal as a genre often gets disparaged by metal fans are the very tendencies that Gloryhammer has in abundance on Tales from the Kingdom of Fife. While for Gloryhammer this is all a part of the appeal of their music it does mean that the album is a definite no go area for anyone who can’t take their metal in such a light-hearted, comical, and indeed happy manner. For those of us without a permanent frown on our faces though Tales from the Kingdom of Fife is a great power metal album, and deserves a score to recognise it as such.

83/100

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven (http://metaltube.freeforums.org/gloryhammer-tales-from-the-kingdom-of-fife-t2878.html))