You can probably tell just from the band names what kind of music we are in for tonight. Gloryhammer came to be back in 2010 as the side project of Alestorm singer and keyboardist Chris Bowes, and since then, they have released a slew of vaguely related concept albums in which various band members assume characters in the ongoing story. Despite some social media controversy following the departure of their original singer, they have weathered the storms that surrounded them and come through more or less unscathed to provide us with entertainment tonight.  

The night starts with Fellowship, who come on to a pirate intro and are wearing capes. The music is fast-paced from the get-go but the vocals are clean and the crowd love them. It’s very uptempo and bouncy, with widdly guitars. It's stirring stuff and there’s plenty of opportunity for the crowd to join in with arms waving and bodies moving in time to the music. We make hearts above our heads and, despite our lack of capes, feel like we are part of something with the band. The cover they do is a rocked-out version of Elton John’s ‘Can You Feel The Love Tonight’ from the Lion King and the only thing lacking seems to be hobbits somehow. The last song ‘Glint’  is a fan favourite with lots of singing and even more air punching. Overall it was good if a little exhausting! 

Germany’s Dominum are a revelation. Zombie pirates with fake Viking beards were most definitely not on my bingo card tonight! Their music combines power metal with a touch of pop – can you imagine the aforementioned bemasked zombies fronted by someone bearing a strong resemblance to Richard O’Brien from the Rocky Horror Picture Show? Well that’s what Dominum both look and sound like.

The song titles play on the shock horror theme so there’s one about Frankenstein, and many more about the dead and eating each other. All done in the best possible taste of course! Two songs in and the crowd are already yelling their name and singing the choruses word for word; It’s glorious!  There's no pit as it's not really pit music, but the whole crowd is moving and the band make the most of it. Never before have I seen a band pull off a Mexican wave but with everyone jumping in waves, and if that wasn’t bizarre enough they then have us do it again but backwards!

They throw in a cover of The Scorpions’ ‘Rock You Like A Hurricane’ and whip the crowd up into a frenzy of joyous abandon. Beyond the hammer horror theme the singer has a fantastic voice, the band are tighter than Gloryhammer’s ex-singers pants and the whole set is the best thing I have seen in a new-to-me band for quite some time. The Ritz tonight has become Dominum’s dominium, and totally belongs to them by the end of the set. 

Gloryhammer come on to the strains of ‘Delilah’ complete with cardboard cut out of Tom Jones centre stage. Allegedly they found him in a dressing room somewhere and he is now an integral part of the show, so we sing the lalalalas with gusto and wait to see what will happen next. When they arrive on stage there's more capes, and a smidgeon of corpse paint as well. They come on one by one, each with a spotlight, and the thing that stand out is that due to touring commitments with Alestorm founder member Chris Bowes isn’t actually here tonight, hmmm.

Whilst not as overtly in-your-face as some bands of this ilk, the whole thing has a definite air of silliness about it. The tour itself is named “No Sleep Til Auchtertool” and the song titles betray a love of Scotland as well as a love of hammers, fire and unicorns. The songs are fast and furious with just a hint of folk about them, and they also do a bit of theatrics just to keep us interested. Yet again there is a lot of movement in the roiling crowd but it is more polite good-natured shoving than a full-on pit, as everyone’s attention is on the stage. There are many many places for the crowd to join in the choruses and this goes down well.

At one point, possibly during the self-titled ‘Gloryhammer’ a hammer is wielded on stage – it’s no Mjölnir but nonetheless is treated with respect and reverence by both the band and the front row. Just when you think the hammer has gone away a green devil appears and capers about with a saxophone for a bit. No idea what that was about, but the crowd loved it anyway! The songs are fast and furious earworms that we will all be humming for days, and despite the seriousness of the lyrics (because ‘The Unicorn Invasion Of Dundee’ is serious business you know) there is a cheerful demeanour amongst the crowd as they twirl and nod to the music.

Gloryhammer’s stage show may be pure cheese but the music is loud and uncompromising and even if we have no idea where ‘The Land Of Unicorns’ actually is we will be gathering our hammers and following Gloryhammer into battle there. Hoots! 

Check the “In The Flesh” page for more photos!
Gloryhammer + Dominum +Fellowship