Nuclear Blast
2009
1. Any Means Necessary
2. Life Is Now
3. Punish And Enslave
4. Legion
5. Between Two Worlds
6. Hallowed Be My Name
7. Something For The Ages
8. No Sacrifice, No Victory
9. Bring The Hammer Down
10. One Of A Kind
11. My Sharona (cover)
HammerFall are a band often mocked in the metal scene and I wouldn't really count myself as an exception. I liked this band's first three albums, but after that I stopped paying much attention. HammerFall have basically settled into a huge rut of fairly cheeseball and generic power metal. With that said, they still have some name value in metal if nothing else so I check out and review their releases.
Well allow to me register some surprise and tell you this album is actually pretty good. It was kind of hard to put my finger on exactly why at first but after repeated listens I noticed many of the songs just have more energy and anthemic qualities that work than the past few. Album opener Any Means Necessary is a good representation as it just has a nice rolling gallop to it coupled with some well placed chanting background vocals and a relatively heavy guitar sound. Also featured is a nice melodic, if not technically amazing solo that is well placed. This just sounds like cool warrior kind of metal and got my head moving. It's been awhile since any HammerFall song has done that for me so I felt it worth noting and expanding on. Legion is a nice surprise as well as it blazes ahead with a good amount of speed and reminds of their earlier albums. Other tracks I'd say are more Renegade style in that they have some groove to them, but almost every track on this album seems to work pretty well. Actually, this is probably the most rock solid thing HammerFall has released.
There's only one track on here that was best never recorded and that's a horribly out of place cover of My Sharona that thankfully comes at the end of the album. I recommend you just turn this off after One Of A Kind and forget this cover snuck onto the ass end of the album. Their albums do tend to have at least one song I don't like at all, but usually it's the ballad.
Surprisingly though this is not the case with Between Two Worlds which is more subdued than usual and doesn't drown itself in cheese. This song actually has a good mellow acoustic vibe to it and works pretty well. One more surprise worth nothing is a HammerFall instrumental called Something For The Ages which rips with speed and energy. Really cool and a rare instance where I'm going to list an instrumental track as a highlight.
I don't think there will ever be a time when I list HammerFall among the top tier of power metal or call them original, but you know what? This was a good listen and it got my head moving more than once. There is a good anthemic epic vibe in this album and the songs are just full of energy. I can see myself driving to No Sacrifice, No Victory and enjoying it and that is worth something. Credit has to be given where credit is due and this is an enjoyable release that surprised the hell out of me. This may just be the best album they've released to date.
Highlights: Any Means Necessary, Legion, Something for the Ages, Punish And Enslave
Rating - 4.0/5
2. Life Is Now
3. Punish And Enslave
4. Legion
5. Between Two Worlds
6. Hallowed Be My Name
7. Something For The Ages
8. No Sacrifice, No Victory
9. Bring The Hammer Down
10. One Of A Kind
11. My Sharona (cover)
HammerFall are a band often mocked in the metal scene and I wouldn't really count myself as an exception. I liked this band's first three albums, but after that I stopped paying much attention. HammerFall have basically settled into a huge rut of fairly cheeseball and generic power metal. With that said, they still have some name value in metal if nothing else so I check out and review their releases.
Well allow to me register some surprise and tell you this album is actually pretty good. It was kind of hard to put my finger on exactly why at first but after repeated listens I noticed many of the songs just have more energy and anthemic qualities that work than the past few. Album opener Any Means Necessary is a good representation as it just has a nice rolling gallop to it coupled with some well placed chanting background vocals and a relatively heavy guitar sound. Also featured is a nice melodic, if not technically amazing solo that is well placed. This just sounds like cool warrior kind of metal and got my head moving. It's been awhile since any HammerFall song has done that for me so I felt it worth noting and expanding on. Legion is a nice surprise as well as it blazes ahead with a good amount of speed and reminds of their earlier albums. Other tracks I'd say are more Renegade style in that they have some groove to them, but almost every track on this album seems to work pretty well. Actually, this is probably the most rock solid thing HammerFall has released.
There's only one track on here that was best never recorded and that's a horribly out of place cover of My Sharona that thankfully comes at the end of the album. I recommend you just turn this off after One Of A Kind and forget this cover snuck onto the ass end of the album. Their albums do tend to have at least one song I don't like at all, but usually it's the ballad.
Surprisingly though this is not the case with Between Two Worlds which is more subdued than usual and doesn't drown itself in cheese. This song actually has a good mellow acoustic vibe to it and works pretty well. One more surprise worth nothing is a HammerFall instrumental called Something For The Ages which rips with speed and energy. Really cool and a rare instance where I'm going to list an instrumental track as a highlight.
I don't think there will ever be a time when I list HammerFall among the top tier of power metal or call them original, but you know what? This was a good listen and it got my head moving more than once. There is a good anthemic epic vibe in this album and the songs are just full of energy. I can see myself driving to No Sacrifice, No Victory and enjoying it and that is worth something. Credit has to be given where credit is due and this is an enjoyable release that surprised the hell out of me. This may just be the best album they've released to date.
Highlights: Any Means Necessary, Legion, Something for the Ages, Punish And Enslave
Rating - 4.0/5
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