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GLYPH
Honor. Power. Glory.

Black Note Music (2024)
Rating: 5/10

Featuring members of Greyhawk, Ravenous, Gatekeeper and Hjelvik, Glyph is a Canadian / American act which formed in 2022 and this is their debut full-length album. Admittedly, this is not the sort of heavy metal I go for; it has that Hammerfall, Powerwolf, Sabaton et al. sort of vibe and while grandiose its symphonic nuances come with dollops of chest pounding cheese.

Awash with keyboards and led by the commanding bellows of frontman R.A. Voltaire, Honor. Power. Glory. is the kind of metal you climb mountains to. The title track is proud, defiant and yet soulless in its cocksure pouting. The combo don layers of armour, yields glinting weapons and sets off for a Dungeons & Dragons convention and still get back home for tea.

Why do I find such sorcery so cringe worthy? Why, in spite of the cover art and garish imagery, is such metal colourless? Glyph strides confidently through ‘March Of The Northern Clan’ as acts like Battlebeast spring to mind, while ‘Eldenfire’ takes a glossy speed metal and grey European coating to sprint through the fens. Of the nine tracks offered only ‘When The World Was Young’ really gets the head banging with its marching riffs, but the real dread for me here are those polished gallops which sit round the corner of almost every song.

If Glyph stuck to cinematic mid-paced fire I’d be more than happy because some these tracks, like ‘A Storm Of Crimson Fire’, begin so well before succumbing to Eurovision glee. This is nerd metal designed for those early slots on the European festival circuit and I just can’t stomach such mystical meandering.

Neil Arnold

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