The chants of “Dominum! Dominum!” ring out long before the absolute anthem of “Killed By Life,” but if anyone wasn’t won over before, they certainly are by its end.
Theatrics are everything to Dominium. Having just released Dead Don’t Die—their wonderfully over-the-top album—Dr. Dead has brought his metal zombies to the Black Country to celebrate.
The title track, the parping magnificence of “Frankenstein,” and the slower, eerier (but no less superb) “Don’t Get Bitten By the Wrong Ones” all point to one thing: this band will be headlining here in 12 months.
They even take on the German hard rock national anthem (well, it should be), and “Rock You Like a Hurricane” has never sounded like this before.
The zombie theme extends to the humongous “We All Taste the Same,” and our 45 minutes with the undead ends with a Mexican-wave metal jump (you had to be there). Even better, it closes with “The Chosen Ones”—a real metal party if ever there was one.
“This is a metal show,” Dead tells us. “And at a metal show, you do metal things. But when one person does it, it looks ridiculous.” Five hundred fists in the air, on the other hand… Dominium, put simply, are unstoppable tonight.
And if anyone in the world still wasn’t convinced, they exit the stage to Huey Lewis and the News. That’s the power (metal) of love. Anyone?
And speaking of ridiculous—here’s Gloryhammer.
The usual Friday conversation with the boss at work:
“Are you at a gig this weekend?”
“Yep. I’m going to see a band that fights unicorns in Dundee with a giant hammer.”
Lovely.
Oh, and by the way, their first song is “Holy Flaming Hammer of Unholy Cosmic Frost”—after a cardboard cutout of Tom Jones ushers in “Delilah.”
Don’t ask. It’s better that way.
Instead, just get swept up in “The Land of Unicorns.”
They’ve taken “an epic journey across the seas” to be here (a ferry from Dublin, but we’ll go with it), and their reward is fists in the air and people yelling “hoots” at them. Ours is “Fly Away” and the rest.
Frankly, if you buy into this, Gloryhammer are as good as it gets. “He Has Returned” is faster than DragonForce and more ready for Eurovision.
Angus McFife (probably not his real name—don’t message me, I know) gets to sing his own anthem, and we won’t even try to analyse “Questlords of Inverness, Ride to the Galactic Fortress!” beyond its title. It explains itself.
“2001” introduces us to The Hootsman, who in turn introduces a song from “the best album of all f**king time.” “Wasteland Warrior Hoots Patrol” is heavy as thrash—until a goblin plays sax, (just accept it at this point.)
Then… well, then they unleash “Gloryhammer,” and the place goes nuts. It’s euphoric. It’s stupid. It’s brilliant. It involves goblins getting smashed with hammers.
“Fife Eternal” almost feels normal at this point—certainly compared to the man playing Zargothrax tonight, ushering in “Masters of the Galaxy.”
If the set needed another fists-in-the-air moment (it didn’t), it gets its most enthusiastic one with “The Siege of Dunkeld (In Hoots We Trust).” Then again, “Keeper of the Celestial Flame of Abernethy” (yes, that’s really what it’s called) isn’t far behind.
Given the temperature outside, the heat of “Universe on Fire” is welcome, and “Hootsforce” turns into a full-on crowd participation exercise—a successful one at that. It may be the most power metal song ever made…
…until, of course, the next one—the last one—”The Unicorn Invasion of Dundee.” The song that came out 12 years ago and made MV love this most ludicrous band more than we probably should.
At the end, The Hootsman is crowned king and hailed as Status Quo thunder through the PA. The reason? Unclear. Beyond the fact that Quo rule, obviously. But then again, nothing is clear here.
That’s the point, though. Power metal is something you either love or don’t get. And if you’re in the former camp, then watching Gloryhammer is arguably watching its masters.
As long as you buy into it, it’s impossible not to love.
And once again, they’ve slayed—winning another battle, the Hammer of Glory still held high.
