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I can't remember the last time I was this excited by a new band. It's the Alestorm frontman's new project, but he's got a proper power metal vocalist in from Switzerland, and just plays keys himself. I still don't "get" Alestorm, but this has really sunk its hooks in.
Best summed up by their producer, I feel: "I think what's so cool about it is that they're obviously really having fun and lampooning the whole scene (broken English, silly concepts, unicorns... packing in every possible clichee ... even the video is meant to look like a typical power metal video) ... and then, despite "not taking it seriously", they still have the audacity to completely kick the arses of 99% of "real" power metal bands and sound really authentic doing so, lol "
(My translation from http://www.musiker-board.de/hoerproben-metal/524206-ich-praesentiere-gloryhammer.html)
In many ways, it's like Steel Panther: ridiculous concept, but so good – great songwriting and musicianship
This song is so catchy I've just had to give it repeat plays every day since discovering it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlhQZFTvAn4
How can you not like a song entitled The Unicorn Invasion of Dundee?!
If you want a "proper" video to watch (and oggle at the fantasy costumes the band members wear!): http://www.youtube.com/v/VTW30Q4B3Go
I'd love to hear what this forum's large Scots contingent feels about this.
Dundee!
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"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
(have no problems with Dundee personally & some unicorns, plus pandas in Edinburgh would make eastern Scotland a rare animal tourism magnet.)
Add a death metal backing and hair rock solos and McGonagall lives again.
@RocknRollDave, yes, but what sets these guys apart IMO is the quality of the songwriting, they have such great hooks! Plus, the musicianship is stellar.
What did the forum's metal-loving crowd think? I'm missing the takes of @bidley @bucket @fretmeister , etc. Guys?
I think that's stretching it a touch far.
But yes, I've heard of them before, and they are brilliantly silly! The whole metal sub-genre parody is nothing new, but Gloryhammer are genuinely pretty good, if a bit generic.
I did find this though, it's like a car crash, so terrible it was impossible to look away:
@Bucket, oh absolutely, I genuinely laughed out loud at the cliché key modulation the first time I heard it.
I blame withdrawal symptoms from Game of Thrones/the Song of Ice and Fire books for my current cravings for fantasy material. I've finished reading all the books and am quite likely to become a GRRuMbler soon.... ">
(BTW, I won't judge you if you laugh at Rhapsody :P)
Then there are the heavier echelons, which you may get on with a bit better.
@Bucket, I see you've found a more receptive audience for this over at Sevenstring.org (not surprising really!). I'm not active there yet, I don't own a sevenstring, for starters!
And I'm glad somebody liked Coroner! Criminally underrated in the 80's, they broke up in the early 90's and have reformed due to a massive surge in popularity (thank you, internet!). I saw them live a couple of years ago, very tight and impressive for a 3-piece Thrash band!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe's_law
The solo on the Timelord song reminded me a little of Tony MacAlpine, which is a really good thing as far as I'm concerned.
Manticora have also clearly overdosed on early Shrapnel Records releases, just like me. >:D<
@Bidley, Yeah, Blind Guardian have been quite a big influence on the other guys in my band, so I was already checking them out. (The drummer's been getting double-bass lessons from Alex Holzwarth.) The Queen influence is really obvious with all the choral backing vox. I'll work my way through their back catalogue a bit, I think, to date I've only tried Imaginations from the Other Side 'cause I could borrow it from our old bassist.
Holzwarth has also played with Rhapsody, which is just too much cheese for me.
Still, all this stuff got me introduced to me Nanowar (of Steel), which is like an even-sillier Gloryhammer turned up to eleven. I'm not quite as into the songs yet.
How can one not love these lyrics?
Going off-topic again: Coroner really do have a different sound to all the other thrash bands I've always listened to, I watched the Get Thrashed documentary the other day and was a bit disappointed they only got briefly mentioned when the Euro scene was discussed. I like them more than many of the US bands, actually. Would love to see them live, but I'm not built for festivals, which seem to be the only way to access many bands these days. Speaking of three-piece thrash bands, I've only just discovered Revocation (who now have another guitar player, but they started as a three-piece). I suppose they're as much tech-death as they are thrash, and I find it pretty exhausting to listen to, but really dig a lot of the elements they've thrown together in their sound.