I clearly remember the impact
Hammerfall's first album Glory To The Brave had on me, I was hooked immediately by this overwhelming, untamed and refreshing Power Metal that left a strong urge to press the play button once again, it was thrilling to say the least. Their second album Legacy Of Kings lived up to the high expectations in impressive style, and it is with this background that I feel a bit down writing this review.
Renegade is the Swedes' third album and quite a lot of the magic has defiantly disappeared, it's like some of the unbound aggressiveness and high level of catchiness has been replaced with more basic song writing that come out tame in comparison. This said they still know who to deliver Metal in a respectable manor so let me give a short impression of what is to expect.
The album opens with a hard grooving mid-tempo track in
Templars Of Steel, it contains a simple but raw and soothing guitar riff and an epic chorus that holds a lot of the song above water. It's not a stunning track but it has its basic material in order and the gloomy bass gives it something extra.
Keep The Flame Burning has a more powerful fast rhythm and some cool intense drumming. It also wins a lot by its melodic chorus line and especially the twin guitar harmony in the middle is really great, more fast songs in this vein would have made a better and more varied album for sure.
Living In Victory is pretty strong track gaining a lot of ear-hanging flair with its fantastic chorus, the slower part of the song seem to take some of the intensity away but the fast rhythm section works well. Joacim
Cans sings with great variation here and his performance overall is as always noteworthy in the better meaning of the word.
Always Will Be is the albums ballad with some atmospheric keyboard elements. A calm acoustic guitar rhythm is the central moving point coupled with Joachim
Cans fitting and clear vocals. I think the song is working pretty well and the sad context of loss is passed through in a sincere way.
The Way Of The Warrior delivers some cool fast lead guitar passages but overall there is just something really exiting missing; the too extensive chorus doesn't really work that well and the rhythm is thin and uninspiring.
Destined For Glory is another track that has standard written over most of it. This mid-tempo rhythm is heard before in a slightly different way and once again the chorus lacks glow and energy. The grooving rhythm guitar is a clear plus though.
Raise The Hammer is an instrumental that has some long awaited power and fast parts. The melodic line produced by the twin lead guitars is really fantastic and overall this is a successful composition indeed, each passage being weighed in just the right respect.
Honour and bravery is a main focus points when evaluating the verbal side of the album, which is not sensational inspiring, but seem to fit nicely with the
Hammerfall universe and all in all they are pretty well written.
Even though the bass lay a pretty solid fundament in the tracks it could have been used more in the forming of the songs, and its mix is also too low. When it comes to the drumming I miss a more challenging approach, yes the basic foundation is delivered with precision and solidity but the really exiting passages are in minority.
As mentioned in the above the twin guitar work is some of the best moments on the record, its here I find thrilling and adventurous playing in a considerable amount.
The production seems to be of a much lower standard than could be expected, I don't know why they have gone along with this very thin and treble dominated sound. The too present cymbals are almost annoying and there simply isn't enough dept and power in the drums, bass or rhythm-guitar, the vocals are well produced and clear in profile and it's not that the production is terrible but I'm certainly not impressed at all.
What makes this an overall good album after all is the fact that these musicians know how to play high standard Metal; it's more the song writing that has a tendency to halt. Of the 10 songs there are a few great ones, some coming in at about good but also some that can be labelled ordinary and I strongly advise new listeners to start with the first two releases when discovering this band.
I can't really find anything that is directly bad about this record, and the great melodic aspects that is the record strongest side is something very enjoyable indeed.
Written by
Tommy Monday, August 12, 2002
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