Interview:	GLORYHAMMER
Title:	Galactic opponents

The Brits around Cypriot singer Michael Sozos alias ‚Angus McFife V‘ are not only recognised as one of the most original, playful, instrumentally adept and thematically elaborate acts in their field.

Now the fantasy lovers Gloryhammer are once again plunging themselves and their fan legions into an epic Symphonic Power Metal battle, which is a direct link to their debut album. And „Return To The Kingdom Of Fife“, the programmatic title of the new longplayer, is a veritable firework display of everything the genre has to offer.

As keyboarder Michael ‚Mike‘ Barber, who works with the band as Zargothrax Clone Alpha, Dark Lord of Dundee, summarises, Gloryhammer have placed more emphasis than ever before on the symphonic element and the vocals.

Congrats to the new album, sounds highly epic, symphonic, orchestral, elegant, dynamic, playful, etc. etc. - how do you rate the new material in general?

„Thanks very much! We put a higher focus on the symphonic element and vocals than ever before, and our engineer Lasse did a fantastic job of maintaining that in a busy Metal mix without losing the drums and guitars. For the first time it feels like we managed to hit the creative goal without any compromises.“

I hear and see a very demanding conception - you guys create one more an own world. Guess, inspired by many overdoses of fantasy computer gaming during all the years of your screen-addicted youth, or?

„Partially yes – ‚Nobuo Uematsu‘ (of Final Fantasy fame) is one of my main influences but this time I also dug into classical, romantic and baroque music quite heavily – Mozart, Chopin and Corelli to name a few. Alongside that we tried to bring back a bit of the magic from 90s and early 2000s Power Metal that seems to be missing in today’s ‘Stadium Power Metal’ sound – we love that too but it gets tiring when every song is identical!“

What excites you most about escaping into a world of your own creation with your own music and lyrics? The real world is unfortunately getting harder and harder, isn't it?

„The feeling of creativity is my favourite part of being in the band – of course like everything else in life, it brings it’s own set of difficulties but when something comes together it’s the best feeling in the world.“

Please bring the whole story and the characters of the new songs closer to the readers! 


„The album is set following the events of both albums 1 & 3. A signal transmitted by Zargothrax upon his death in album 3 reaches Dundee shortly after the events of album 1, awakening a clone who instantly vaporises Angus McFife and his homeland. Several years later, his son, Angus II, returns to take his revenge, and must enlist the help of the world’s mightiest heroes …“

Which are the song lyrics with the most meaning for you on the new album? 


„Probably ‘Sword Lord Of The Goblin Horde’. I feel more connected to how earnest Angus’s quest feels in that than any other – he knows he may fail, but follows his destiny regardless of the outcome. To me that song feels more heroic than any we’ve ever done.“

Who of you guys out of the band did the lion's share of the new song material?

„Chris and I split the bulk of the writing equally. Ben handled the orchestration as always, and Sozos and Paul both made notable contributions as well.“

How did your collaboration for the new work go in these rather difficult times? 


„We always collaborate online, as we live all around the world – it actually made no difference to the process.“

How was the selection of songs for it done? Was it very difficult for you, regarding the wonderful liquid flow within and also between all the songs?

„We tend to form a rough version of the storyline to get an idea of the tone of each part of the album, and then begin work on ideas for those parts until they become individual songs.“

In which way do you write your infectiously lively and really opulently arranged songs? I don't imagine it's easy to get such material together so compactly, dynamically and yet so harmoniously … 


„We begin with simple MIDI versions of the songs and some rough lyrics, and then turn those into full demos to check the vocals and if any of the instrumentation needs changing. Once that is all done Ben will build on the basic orchestral parts Chris or I have written, and after that we take it to the studio to get the finished product.“

Nearly everything has changed since Covid etc. etc. - the world, the music business, the societies - how much have you changed, how much have your views on true art changed over the years til now? 


„I feel like the industry is making life harder for musicians and fans alike – more venues are taking cuts of merchandise, charging fans far too much for tickets. We are very lucky to be at a point where it doesn’t affect us too much, but something will have to change, or else no new bands will break through at all. This scene is already quite stagnant and it won’t improve if younger musicians aren’t given the opportunity to grow and hone their craft.“

Anything you would like to add? 


„We can’t wait to see everyone again (currently halfway through our USA tour and it’s been absolutely incredible so far!) Looking forward to bringing you our best ever live show, along with our new album! Thank you and HOOTS!“

© Markus Eck, 14.05.2023

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