My One Paragraph Review: Tales From the Kingdom of Fife

The day has finally arrived, Gloryhammer released their debut album Tales From the Kingdom of Fife! You may remember Gloryhammer as the band who brought tons of visitors to my blog a week after its creation. The least I can do as repayment is write a short review for the album. They'd probably also appreciate it if I went out and actually bought the album, but these things take time and effort. And as you can see by the slightly shorter review, I am dedicating very little of either. On to the review!

For quite a long time I have been questing to find a band or album that can be simply described as "epic". I've wanted to be able to dazzle curious acquaintances with the epicness stowed away in my library and to bring up an example with one simple click. I think Rhapsody of Fire has perhaps come the closest, but they have their off days. This being a review for a specific album though, I think you know what I'm about to say. Gloryhammer is a gloriously epic band. Sure, the music isn't entirely unique and influences such as the previously mentioned Rhapsody can be heard clearly, but damn do they combine it all well. I will admit that I was worried the first time I heard Angus McFife on the youtubes, but listening to the album as a whole gives an entirely different experience. On its own, you may think the music is generic power metal, but giving Tales From the Kingdom of Fife a play-through tells an overarching story of a wonderfully cheesy rendition of Scotland. Each song fits well and there's nothing that sticks out or ruins the experience. Even the slow songs. Even the ten-and-a-half-minute The Epic Rage of Furious Thunder. All in all, Tales From the Kingdom of Fife is a solid album. It wears its influences on its sleeve and doesn't do anything particularly groundbreaking, but everything is combined in such a great and epic way that you owe it to yourself to give it a listen.

I hate giving numbers to things but here goes nothing...
7.5/10

-Zombie Viking