Gloryhammer

Formed in 2010 by pirate metal trailblazer Christopher Bowes of Scotland’s Alestorm, Gloryhammer operates as an Anglo-Swiss symphonic power metal outfit whose sound and vision draw from folklore, wizardry, and speculative futures.

The project assembled that year with Bowes joined by Swiss vocalist Thomas Winkler, guitarist Paul Templing, bassist James Cartwright, and drummer Ben Turk, each participant cast as a figure in the band’s continuing saga. Shortly after forming, the group signed to Napalm Records and delivered its debut full-length, the sorcery-laden concept piece Tales from the Kingdom of Fife that imagines an alternate-history medieval Scotland, in 2013. Two years afterward came the follow-up studio album Space 1992: Rise of the Chaos Wizards, a sequel that introduced science-fiction threads to the existing fantasy chronicle. The tale advanced once more in 2019 via the third album, Legends from Beyond the Galactic Terrorvortex.