LIVE – Gloryhammer, w/ Dominum and Fellowship
Gloryhammer, Dominum, Fellowship
O2 Ritz, Manchester
07/02/2025
Live Review by Oli Gonzalez
Nothing like a bit of Power Metal on a Saturday night. Not a phrase you hear very often, I’ll admit. Given my love of Post- and Black Metal, sometimes it’s nice to have a bit of palette cleanse and spend an evening with a bit of melodic cheese, trading corpse paint and spikes for capes, inflatable hammers, and tunics. Leading the charge for this evening were British Power Metallers Gloryhammer whilst recruiting Fellowship and Dominum of England and Germany respectfully in order to from the No Sleep Til Auchertool tour lineup.
We arrived. It was busy. Very busy. So busy that the merch queue was literally snaking around half of the venue! Surprising considering Bowling For Soup were playing not too far away. There had better have been some cool merch there! This spoke to the popularity of all the bands though, and the adoration was shared by a crowd of all ages from some grey-haired folk to those junior enough to need accompaniment by an adult. Once we had made a pilgrimage to the bar and joined said merch queue for another pilgrimage, the lights went down, the crowd roared, and the first band was about to begin.
Fellowship
The entirety of this set was spent watching the band from the merch queue. Though this did not compromise the quality of the spectacle. I’m glad too. I’d have been gutted to miss this! Sporting LARP garments and the stage attire of DnD fanboys, the lyrical themes were equally as cheesy and centred around the fantasy theme. Though this was such a fun and aesthetically pleasing sound, especially considering the individual skills on display from all the musicians. Matthew was an absolute powerhouse, with a soaring operatic voice, whilst the drums and bass held down the rhythm majestically and set the foundation for a melodic masterclass from the guitar. An objectively excellent set in which 30 minutes felt way too short.
https://www.facebook.com/FellowshipUK
Dominum
Now that we had finally visited the merch stand, it was time for Germany’s Dominum. A set of two halves for me. Honestly, I just wasn’t into it, and thought this was too much of a step down. But, you know what they say about first impressions; they can often be wrong. The band’s vocalist, under the guise of Dr Dead, demonstrated that he is an absolute master of crowd control! A Power Metal cover of ‘Hurricane’ got the crowd’s attention, whilst some interaction and encouraging simple synchronised hand and arm movements ensured there was full engagement. This allowed time to appreciate the true skill of each individual musician, most notably the scorching lead guitarist Tommy, who’s an absolute maestro behind the axe! The highlight of the set? Have you ever been in a Mexican Wave jump pit? Nor me…until now! Imagine, if you will, 1500 or so in the O2 Ritz, one row of people jumping and upon hitting the crowd, the row behind them jump and the sequence continues, creating the illusion of a wave of sound much like you would see in a football match on television! See my comment about being a master of crowd control. This was fun! How this band have only been around for 1.5 years is insane!
https://www.facebook.com/realdominum
Gloryhammer
After some very quick turnarounds and a supremely efficient changes of stage set, it was now time for the main event. Tom Jones was on stage, at the centre, bellowing out his beloved classic ‘Delilah’, with the crowd matching the volume of the PA system as they sang along. Although this wasn’t Tom Jones, but rather a cardboard cutout. Still, it got the crowd engaged. Some theatrical stage walk-ons with the accompanying LARP style stage attire made the band seem like characters from LOTR. Musically, this is everything you’d expect from a Power Metal band. The pulsating chugging rhythms, the blistering lead guitars, soaring lead vocals, and an aesthetic symphonic undertone. Therein lay the problem for me as it didn’t seem like their sound really separates them from the genre. Though that was only my perception. You could look in any direction and see many singing along and becoming fully engrossed in this performance, invested in the lore of Gloryhammer. The pits opened and…yep, that’s right, we had mosh pits. Something I never thought I’d be saying! We had crowd surfers. As well as inflatable hammer ‘sword’ fights in said pits! Is there a better metaphor for crowd interaction and how well this was received?
https://www.facebook.com/gloryhammer
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