Legends from Beyond the Galactic Terrorvortex

As a dedicated fan of all things glorious, nerdy and kitschy, I consider myself a Gloryhammer fan from day one. The concept of a power metal parody band wasn't exactly new when Alestorm mastermind Christopher Bowes came up with the idea for his new side project (think about Italians Nanowar (of Steel) for example), but never before had it been executed so well. For say what you will, Mr. Bowes is certainly an accomplished composer and songwriter, and even though he doesn't seem to be too fond of the genre his own side project is making fun of, he nonetheless manages to write captivating songs, big hooks, catchy melodies and, yes, deliberately bad lyrics.

With that excellent basis, executed to perfection by the participating musicians - most notably frontman Thomas "Angus McFife" Winkler, who has a very remarkable and recognizable voice, the erstwhile side project has meanwhile become a beast of a band on its own; so much so, that the increased touring schedule doesn't even allow Christopher Bowes to partake in live shows anymore due to his other obligations with (even bigger band) Alestorm.

This doesn't take away from the achievements of the band, however, as the focus here rests definitely with the aforementioned lead singer, who carries the band's still well written material and elevates it from "good" to "very good" - or at least he managed to do so on the previous two albums, when the band's ridiculous concept was still somewhat fresh.

However, on their third output, "Legends from beyond the Terrorvortex", the returning concepts of the Spaceknights of Crail, hailing from the Kingdom of Space-Dundee, Space-Goblins and Hammers of Glory, are slowly but certainly growing a bit stale. Yes, it was funny the first time around. Yes, it was still funny the second time, mostly because their second outing "Space 1992 - Rise of the Chaos Wizards" boasted the band's strongest material to date. But with album number three, the stakes are higher... and while the Scottish-Swiss-Coproduction once again delivers pretty solid songs, that's really all it is: Pretty solid.

Sure, Thomas Winkler once again rises to the occasion and, quite literally, takes the album beyond the Terrorvortex of mediocrity, but even a stellar singer can only do so much, if the song material is "just ok".

Now, fans of the band and melodic power metal will still find a lot of things to enjoy here: "Masters of the Galaxy" is a true highlight of the band's catalogue, "Legendary Enchanted Jetpack" celebrates the same endearing humor that made the band so charming in the first place, and "Power of the Laser Dragon Fire" evokes reminiscence to the great Sonata Arctica works of the olden days (their album "Ecliptica", to be precise).

But a lot of the remainder of the material just seems to be there to have songs that the band can play live at festivals and that will allow audiences to yell words like "Hoots!" and "Glory! Hammer!" with plastic weaponry raised in the air. Sure, that's fun in the live situation when one is, let's say, slightly inebriated at a festival or concert; but for a studio record, and as a song itself, it's just not quite cutting it. And therein lies the biggest weakness of Gloryhammer's latest release: The songs just lack the insane amount of catchy hooks that made the previous albums so great.

With the novelty of their concept slowly wearing thin, the main focus now shifts more to the musical side of things; and it is there that the band will need to kick into another gear with their next album, if they want to avoid becoming yet another example of just repetition of the tried and true, of the same kind of tropes and chlichés that Chris Bowes' concept wanted to make fun of in the first place.

Make no mistake, "Legends from beyond the Terrorvortex" is a very entertaining power metal album, and fans of the band will not regret adding it to their collection. But in my humble opinion, it's not precisely their best work yet. It will take more than yet another three "Hoots!" themed songs to keep the high level of interest and attention that the band is getting at the moment going.

But until then, fellow space knights - let us raise our Hammers of Glory once more to smash Space Goblins and fend off evil Zargothrax one more time!