Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: HammerFall
Label: Napalm Records
Release: 2016
Rating: 3.5/5
HammerFall are one of those bands that don’t need much of an introduction. Sure, over all these years metal has gone super extreme (both in how the sound gets processed in the studio and in terms of technical milestones), brutalizing everything in sight, which of course pulled the crowds’ focus toward modern metal genres and their fusions, but through it all the thought still echoes that there are the far softer, old-school-inspired and melodically steadfast HammerFall, who back in 1997 sparked a proper »revival« of melody in metal with their cult debut »Glory to the Brave«, and for the slightly older metal crowd they’re still nostalgic as hell.
Barely two years have passed since the predecessor »(r)Evolution«, and here’s the new one, the tenth overall, »Built to Last«. The band recently moved under the wing of the Austrian label Napalm Records. Considering the odds of the band changing its style are slimmer than a frog sprouting feathers on its head, it’s a more than fitting title for the new release. Durable and ready for anything. Forever. Forever young? Depends on where you’re coming at the band from. HammerFall are damn calculated and deliberate whenever they take on something new, like recording an album. The members may promise all sorts of things in interviews and other official statements beforehand, but the new release is really a stroll through the band’s past deeds, and every last »loop« of it would be untangled in an instant by the innocent cochlea of a 100% deaf person. Despite the arrival of a new drummer, David Wallin (Pain), who already did a first tour with the band back in 2015, this brings absolutely no twists to the band’s basic musical vision, since Dronjak and Norgren keep kneading the same guitar phrases HammerFall have been writing from their beginnings right up to today.
In that sense the guitar solos are (funnily enough) the most interesting part of the new album, and everything else is very predictable stuff. The opener Bring It! and especially, a little later, The Sacred Wov draw the most attention on the new record. In format, lead riff and above all in the way they shape the melodies Cans delivers, both tracks fire the listener straight back to the band’s debut, and Twilight Princess and, on its tail, Second To None don’t dodge that either, bringing nothing but two more (manifold) attempts at reviving moments of the career captured by the band’s »iron« ballad known as »Glory to the Brave«. Then there’s Hammer High, a track of utterly worn-out lead phrases about Thor-style muscle-pumping on steroids and bullying naughty dragons, trying to buy the favor of the power metal guard in no time with hyper-bombast. In terms of predictability, even the arrangement-wise “weird” New Breed is more interesting. The rest of the material is HammerFall from head to toe, so true fans of the band (at least as a rule) won’t be able to resist picking this one up. So »Built To Last« is real manna for hardened followers of European power metal, and of the band itself, while it won’t be missed by anyone who knows the first four albums well and knows that on the next ones all they can expect from HammerFall is more self-repetition. Sad, but among other things that also means, to a certain degree, running out of ideas.
Even so, the new album brings a bit more creative and arrangement-wise cohesion than the predecessor »(r)Evolution«, which swung more wildly in quality from track to track, so as a whole it’s easier to listen to again. From start to finish, that is. Nice, but predictable and previously heard new material, with no moments you could call highlights. HammerFall remain cautious and deliberate. That’s why they stick with their tried-and-true power metal recipe on the new album, which most likely won’t win over any new fans, but will definitely please the loyal base they already have.
HammerFall – Hammer High (official video):
Lineup
Joacim Cans – vocals, backing vocals
Oscar Dronjak – guitar, keyboards, backing vocals
Pontus Norgren – guitar, backing vocals
Fredrik Larsson – bass guitar, backing vocals
David Wallin – drums
Production
James Michael, Oscar Dronjak & Pontus Norgren
Track List
01. Bring It!
02. Hammer High
03. The Sacred Vow
04. Dethrone And Defy
05. Twilight Princess
06. Stormbreaker
07. Built To Last
08. The Star Of Home
09. New Breed
10. Second To None
