GLORYHAMMER and their intergalactic power metal made of unicorns and wizards, warriors and all sort of fantasy-themed weirdness came back to Finland on October 28th, 2026, to promote their fifth full-length “Space 1993: Wrath of Kor-Virliath.” In a pretty full Tavastia, the Scots were joined by Swedish MAJESTICA, who performed just a few months ago in Tuska, with ARION carrying the torch for the locals.
With Halloween approaching, quite a few people in the audience took the freedom of wearing all kinds of costumes, although of course the unicorns were the closest to the main act’s theme.
The evening began quite early with ARION taking the stage in this evening fully dedicated to melodic and symphonic power metal. Their set was short but tight, with the band taking their warm-up role very seriously tonight, playing with enthusiasm in front of their fans, the female part of which seemed rather delighted when the vocalist took his shirt off. Among the handful of songs in their set, featuring some of their most popular works, they played a new one called “Afterlife.” Their gig ended with “Mombasa” as an outro, which is always a bit funny to think about when the original song is actually by Fabio Frizzi of “Zombie” fame.
MAJESTICA left a pretty solid impression at last Tuska festival, and they confirmed tonight all the good things seen back then. Growing up at STRATOVARIOUS and SONATA ARCTICA, along with a massive dose of all the power metal greats, these influences are massively shown through their music, which gives as such a pretty nostalgic vibe to a good part of the crowd, while keeping things fresh at the same time. The Swedes made us feel for a moment like we were back in the ’90s, and that’s no small feat. The anthemic nature of songs such as “Metal United” certainly helped to fire up the audience and set the mood for the main course of the night.
Rituals be rituals, tradition is respected with the usual Tom Jones cutout figure placed in the middle of the stage before the band came on stage, as “Delilah” played in the background. The band followed suit immediately after, amid the cheers from their fans, and began the show with one of the new songs, “Ultimate Sacrifice”. At this point, the crowd was well-warmed up, and the atmosphere got more and more on fire as the show built momentum. When not brandishing his gigantic hammer, Angus McFife II was occasionally busy ripping off goblin arms, while people cheered and chanted, of course, also for the Hootsman in his trademark fur-covered attire and dark sunglasses. in their roughly 90-minute set, they had time not just to focus on the new record, but in a carousel of hits from the previous episodes of their intergalactic saga. The Finnish audience seemed incredibly dedicated, and has been singing along on more than one occasion, in a setting that looked more and more like a big party, with lots of sweating and jumping around. Eventually, things came to an end, so the band took their aces out and performed one after another: “Universe on Fire,” “Hootsforce,” and “The Unicorn Invasion of Dundee,” in a grand finale that left all of these power metal-hungry people surely satisfied.
It’s quite clear that GLORYHAMMER has worked really hard to build all this universe around themselves, and all that work has been paying off with their extremely dedicated fanbase.
ARION
MAJESTICA
GLORYHAMMER
