Hammerfall

Legacy of Kings (Nuclear Blast)
by Scott Hefflon

There’s something magical about Hammerfall. They’re pretty much spearheading the new powermetal movement, a real “movement” if you know what I mean. While many of their peers are either stuck in the ’80s sound or just plain suck, Hammerfall shines like a diamond in shit. Lyrics about brothers in metal, united we stand, and all that happy horseshit lone suburban metal kids need to hear while sitting in their bedrooms, dreading the next day at school when all the jocks’ll tease them for being a long-haired hippie freak. Like Judas Priest in their heyday and Manowar, Hammerfall capture the lone-gunner passion, the undeniable melodic aspect that transcends genre classification and trend, yet have the good sense to have tight, crisp, heavy, very late-’90s Euro-metal production.

The easiest comparison would be Helloween, but Hammerfall is less goofy (both a positive and a negative). Legacy of Kings is about questing for things, kings and queens who blind your eyes and steal your dreams, and all sorts of dreamland hoopla that sounds really cool and dramatic with doubled vocals, harmonies, searing solos, and drum-stick-a-twirling beats. And they cover “Back to Back” by Pretty Maids, a band that I thought few besides me (and probably Popoff) knew and loved, and NO ONE would ever cover in my lifetime. That, on top of everything else, makes Hammerfall one of the few bands I strongly recommend to any metal fan who has yet to hear the best of the new powermetal bands – both young hopefuls and aging dorks crawling daily out of the past.
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