The album gets introduced by an instrumental that screams tension and excitement. It builds up into this heroic soundtrack to the bands journey, involving melodies of the songs that are going to be heard further along the album.

‘Holy Flaming Hammer of Unholy Cosmic Frost’ was the second single released of this album. On top of fast strumming guitars and fast bass drums, the song hails the holy flaming hammer of unholy cosmic frost, the mighty weapon of prince Angus McFife. Of course, Zargothrax does not like the band being happy and celebrating their mighty weapon. He awakens from a deep slumber and the fight between good and evil has begun once again. For a moment it seems as if the darkness has won already, as at the end of the song we can hear a countdown that ends into an explosion. But Angus McFife isn’t beaten that easily.

‘Imperium Dundaxia’ talks about the nuclear wasteland that was left by the war of Dundee. It contains a lot of Zargothrax’ mysterious voice and even some growls. Synths play an important part in this song. Together with high pitched guitar solos, it creates this fantasy world.

‘Wasteland Warrior Hoots Patrol’ is very catchy and danceable. Singing alternates with short riffs on top of a steady beat. Imagine the Hootsman and his warriors riding on nuclear motorbikes and fighting Goblins, and you have the mental image of this song.

In “Brothers of Crail’, Grandmaster Proletius leads his brothers of trail to fight together and to defeat the evil wizard Zargothrax. A mighty sounding song with a harmonious chorus. You will find yourself lost in the song as it takes over and makes you ready for the battle to come. The multiple layers of sound really fit into this song, while you hear Angus take the lead of the group. Fitting for the next song where he brings together warriors from across the land to fight in the name of ‘Fife Eternal’. The synth is heard on the background, creating the melody on top of the power chords from the electric guitars. That then is followed up by a fast guitar solo. All of a sudden everything fades and the voice of a mysterious women takes over.

‘Sword Lord of the Goblin Horde’ is a song title I’m happy I don’t have to pronounce and I can just write it down. A calmer paced song that sounds more ‘flat’, meaning that no instruments take the lead in this one, but all follow in each others paces. The song marches forward in it’s own tempo, building up to the next song, where our heros try and retrieve the ‘Vorpal Laserblaster of Pittenweem’. That one starts of with very fast guitar strumming and very fast drumming. Throughout the song, it keeps it’s fast beat. A song full of action and tention.

Unfortunately, Zargothrax had beaten Angus McFife and Proletius to the legendary weapon. Behold the ‘Keeper of the Celestial Flame of Abernethy’, the song that tells you all about Zargothrax and probably my favorite song of the album. It’s fast, it’s catchy, and it is about an evil wizard that seems to be winning. It doesn’t sound like that at all, but that makes it such a cool song. This song is very creative, since it’s a fluent story. It’s not a chorus that returns a few times in the song, the chorus is only there once. The rest of the story is build around that, making you crave for this one chorus in the song. It’s also one of the shortest songs on the album. This was the first single of ‘Return to the Kingdom of Fife’. Gloryhammer played it live in their shows before the studio version was out, and now it is out, this song will capture you just like Zargothrax would.

On to the last and the longest song of the album: ‘Maleficius Gemenius (Colossus Matrix 38B – Ultimate Invocation of the Binary Thaumaturge)’. Once more, our mighty heroes try to overpower Zargothrax. The song starts calm and mysterious, before building up the tension and releasing it in fast riffs and a mighty scream. Sozos reaches the highest notes in this song. ‘Maleficius Gemenius (Colossus Matrix 38B – Ultimate Invocation of the Binary Thaumaturge)’ tells you the last part of the story from this album. It has its own unique sounds, but also uses melodies from previous albums and songs. One last power metal masterpiece to close this chapter. With all the action that happens in the song, those 12 minutes fly by. It ends as calm as it started, flowing perfectly back into the beginning if you put this album on repeat.

I often found myself absorbed in the story, forgetting to write down what I thought. But that’s a good thing, since it means Gloryhammer tells it’s own story full excitement. The album takes all the elements of power metal to do so. There’s fast guitars, power chords, harmonies, high screams and lots, lots of fantasy. Together they tell you a story about the great Angus McFife that takes on his journey once again to fight the evil wizard Zargothrax, who has more to say in this albums than previous ones. There are even some growls from the man himself. 

This album has so many sides, but above all, the whole album connects through the story and the journey that it takes the listener on. If you know Gloryhammer, you will definitely recognize their sound. This album does have a bit more synths and more Zargothrax vocals, which creates more interaction and tention than previous albums. If you don’t know Gloryhammer, think fantasy, goblins, power metal, a great vocalist that can sing high notes and put those together for some action.

One more thing; I did think ‘Fly Away’ was going to be on this album, but it is nowhere to be found. Maybe they will use it for a compilation album or it will appear somewhere else.

Gloryhammer is:
Sozos Michael (Angus McSix) – Vocals
Paul Templing (Grandmaster Proletius)– Guitars
James Cartwright (Hootsman) – Bass
Michael Barber (Zargothrax) – Keyboards
Ben Turk (Ralathor) – Drums

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