If you wanted a power metal show that took you to more fantasy worlds, MTelus was the place to be on Saturday, March 23rd. With the bill consisting of Glyph, Elvenking, and Alestorm, we were in for a ride.
Fresh off setting forward on an adventure from their planet of Volaria, this new band called Glyph started off the night with a bang. They were relatively unknown to the majority of the crowd, as was announced at one point in the set that this was only their 4th performance ever as a band. This is quite literally their debut tour, and on a tour with Alestorm to boot.
To step away from their lore, each member of Glyph has their own history. Glyph is fronted by R.A. Voltaire (vocals, Ravenous E.H.) with Jeff Black (keys, Gatekeeper), Rob Steinway (guitar, Greyhawk), and Darin Wall (bass, Greyhawk) laying the beats. On this tour, they recruited Ryan Yancey of Blood and Thunder to keep them on time with the drums.
As of writing (28 March), the debut album has not yet been released to the public, as it goes live everywhere on March 29th. The demo tracks that were dropped at Mad with Power 6 in Madison, WI were more than enough to convince the powers-that-be to ask Glyph out for this tour. They had physical CDs available to purchase at the merch booth in Montreal, that many took advantage of to listen to more of this band that seemed to pop out of nowhere.
During the opening song, “Honour, Power, Glory,” the crowd was vibing slightly. By the time “When the World Was Young” started (this being where Voltaire commented how many shows had been played), the crowd was invested in what Glyph was cooking. Voltaire also flexed some muscles and spoke some French to the crowd, which, at that point, the crowd was hooked. The crowd was in full party mode when the final song of 6, Volaråd, played – raising their drinks in the air to a new drinking song.
I’ll admit, I had barely heard of Elvenking before this tour. It is currently their first tour in North America after being in the European scene for the last 20 years. Spotify had the courtesy to play “Silverseal” a few times in my Metal Mix playlist at least before the show happened. The band hit the stage with the lead-off single “Rapture” from their most recent album “Reader of the Runes – Rapture”.
Damnagoras, this Italian band’s lead singer, came on stage with a crown made of shed antlers, and I think that crown was gone before the end of the first song as Damna was headbanging throughout “The Hanging Tree”. The crowd got into the party mood and started the mosh pits during “Pagan Revolution”. The mosh pits looked a little bit more like a dance at times during Elvenking from what I saw from the balcony. “Bride of the Night” was a nice variation of their emotional set that was peppered with Elvish and Viking references.
After Elvenking left the stage and the drum riser was retired backstage, the signature duck took center stage and it grew to a chant of “le canard!” The crowd of the sold-out show was ready for Alestorm. Many in the crowd were wearing a range of pirate outfits, ranging from Spirit Halloween costumes to full “historical” re-enactment garb. The usual suspects for the front row had convinced the security during the VIP Entry to let the alligator and shark floaties to come in.
There were ducks also scattered throughout the crowd, with some ducks on necklaces. The unicorns from Gloryhammer handed me a mini rubber duck, as apparently the bag that they carried was how they bribed their way to the front of the crowd. Alestorm exploded onto the stage, starting off with their classic “Keelhauled”. The heavy metal pirates floated between their older albums, doing some of the usual gags (“Hangover” had one of their crew in a shark head for the rapped lyrics) before the first “new” song came in at the seventh song was introduced.
It was a cover of The Arrogant Worms song “The Last Saskatchewan Pirate”, and the self-awareness of memes continued after, with Chris turning Wenches and Mead into the “for Dogs” version. After a trip to “Mexico”, we landed on one of the newer songs that Alestorm has written and took the “Voyage of the Dead Marauder”. Normally, Patty Gurdy (who is featured on the recorded track) tours with the crew, but she had some personal issues to attend and couldn’t make the tour.
In her place, Barbara Blackthorne of Empress filled the role of female vocals for both songs on the setlist that called for it. The second song would be “Zombies Ate My Pirate Ship” that was played during the encore. I think Blackthorne did a fine job filling in for Patty, but I also haven’t listened to the newest albums as much as I have the oldest. The crowd knew to do as it has always done during “Nancy the Tavern Wench” and I think this was the biggest row pit I have seen, filling MTelus from a few rows from the barricade to almost all the way to the soundboard.
By the end of the night, after all the P.A.R.T.Y., the drinking and the anchors going places, the crowd left satisfied with another show in the books.
Review & photos – Ryan Rumpel
