Label: Nuclear Blast Records
Reissue date: 12. 11. 2021
Production: Fredrik Nordström
Album length: 47.15 min
Genre: Power Metal
Rating: 8.5/10
Last November, Germany’s Nuclear Blast Records brought the third studio album by Swedish power metal icons HammerFall, the well-known “Renegade”, back to life. The record came out in 2000, and since it has now racked up a solid 20 years, a reissue already felt perfectly justified on that count alone. But this isn’t a completely classic reissue. The extended title, “Renegade 2.0”, is fully warranted, because the album got a serious sonic overhaul for the occasion. Let’s call it a sonic ‘rejuvenation’, or better yet a refresh: it now sounds roughly the way the vast majority of power metal fans back in 2000, at the time of its original release, expected it to sound. The sonic transformation compared to the original is so obvious and instantly noticeable that giving “Renegade 2.0” a new cover seemed like the logical thing to do.
When the band set about recording “Renegade”, they wanted to break through commercially on every continent. “Legacy Of Kings” (1998) had brought them real popularity and recognition! Power metal was enjoying enormous label support at the time, and with its revivalism it brought a kind of renaissance of melodic approaches to heavy metal. It resurrected some classic bands that had been ‘languishing’ through the nineties, pushed aside and forgotten in the shadow of the established thrash metal and the rising death metal and black metal, because they either couldn’t or wouldn’t adapt to an era of chasing new sub-genre extremes. Power metal put ‘normal’ singing back at the center: clean, authoritative vocals with a high musicality payoff, which for a short while pulled the focus away from crowds that had by then fully settled into growling. Even those who had spent their teenage years in the eighties pulled their worn old leather jackets and frayed jeans back on. You could say that HammerFall were the main matadors of this renaissance of classic heavy metal elements, which their power metal was absolutely packed with.
Still, in 2000 HammerFall went a little further in their ambitions than anyone could have expected, or than the band was asked to. For the third album’s producer they picked the legendary Michael Wagener, whose production approach was in many ways responsible for the success of a number of eighties bands, especially in glam metal. Among others, he shaped the sound of Motley Crue, Skid Row, Warrant, White Lion, Great White and Dokken. Guitarist and band boss Oscar Dronjak admitted in an interview at the time that the band wanted to reach for bigger commercial success with “Renegade”, while hinting that the following albums wouldn’t follow that sonic template. And indeed, Renegade is a somewhat softer-sounding affair, though that doesn’t mean the old fox Wagener’s sound detailing lacks finesse. Yes. The outline of eighties production moves is noticeable above all in the greater focus on shaping the vocal sound. The vocals carry a pronounced ‘echo’ and, with the vocal harmonies accompanying them, sit squarely front and center throughout. The guitar phrases stayed in a slightly subordinate position in the mix. The album sounds rather ‘bright’.
So “Renegade 2.0” delivers what the first paragraph of this review already hinted at. And who did HammerFall turn to? Well, the man who basically built their sound, their power metal stature in the first place: Fredrik Nordström. In the new mix he sharpened up the crunch of all the guitar phrases on the album, which are clearly pushed up in the new sonic picture, while keeping the album’s distinct pomp intact. The phrases come across even more clearly than on the original. And more. The contrasts between the building blocks of the sound are intensified, and as said, “Renegade 2.0” has that bristling, swaggering power metal character fans were already expecting more than twenty years ago. It feels darker and more ominous too. Add the progress in studio technology, and the result hits its target that much more effectively. The band kept Fredrik by their side for their latest studio album “Hammer Of Dawn” (RockLine review), which came out at the end of this past February, and that turned out to be an exceptionally smart move.
The album earned the band a gold certification in Sweden, and as a third studio album it also climbed considerably higher on the charts than its predecessor. Even though the first two albums are today seen as the ones that must adorn the collection of every true heavy metal diehard, “Renegade” still delivered some unforgettable phrases and melodies on release, ones that still define the band’s iron-clad live repertoire and are permanently lodged under the skin and in the veins of true power metal lovers. These songs, which over time grew into band classics, are certainly moments of peak payoff, combining bombast, the drama-theater of top-notch chorus melodies, with the magic of punchy, piercing guitar phrases. That includes the opening Templars Of Steel right off the bat, then the title track, then The Way Of The Warrior with its superb chorus melody, the slightly overlooked Keep The Flame Burning, Destined For Glory, the romantic Champion and the closing anthem A Legend Reborn. There’s also the fascinating new ballad Always Will Be, released as a single alongside the title track, which reaches the level of the ballad on the debut, though it doesn’t spark quite the same enthusiasm in the listener. Perhaps the band’s decision to include the instrumental Raise the Hammer on the album hinted at a slight deficit of ideas compared to the previous two albums, even if that track works perfectly fine too. The band liked it so much that they kept it in the set list at shows in 2002 and 2003, when they were already presenting the album “Crimson Thunder”. On the tour supporting “Renegade”, HammerFall also played, among others, A Legend Reborn and Keep The Flame Burning.
So “Renegade” no longer thrilled as much as the band’s previous two albums, even though alongside the classics Renegade, The Way Of The Warrior, Templars Of Steel and Always Will Be, it has a few overlooked songs that ignite just as phenomenally, so the band can surprise with it in future live sets at any time. The question is how much room to maneuver there is, given the band’s outstanding body of work and a heap of obligatory classics that have to be part of their iron-clad repertoire. The refreshed sound has given the album a distinctly different perceptual character. The “Renegade 2.0” version will especially delight those who were already expecting a sound modeled on its predecessor “Legacy of Kings” back in 2000. In a way, it sparks some nostalgia too. That memory is still so vivid: Graz on 2. 2. 2001 and Salzburg on 3. 2. 2001, when all of us Slovenian metalheads ‘waded’ to the HammerFall shows (with Virgin Steele and Freedom Call as support acts at the time).
It’s worth noting that the CD format offers both versions of the album: the original, produced by Wagener, and the new one. The CD format of the reissue also includes six bonus tracks, placed on the disc with the original album, and the DVD “The Templar Renegade Crusade”, featuring live performance videos from various places around the world the band visited on the tour promoting the album. Besides the new cover, this ‘sandwich’ of three discs also comes with a lavish 68-page booklet.
Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Track list (2CD/DVD format):
CD1 (remixed album):
01. Templars Of Steel
02. Keep The Flame Burning
03. Renegade
04. Living In Victory
05. Always Will Be
06. The Way Of The Warrior
07. Destined For Glory
08. The Champion
09. Raise The Hammer
10. A Legend Reborn
CD2 (original album):
01. Templars Of Steel
02. Keep The Flame Burning
03. Renegade
04. Living In Victory
05. Always Will Be
06. The Way Of The Warrior
07. Destined For Glory
08. The Champion
09. Raise The Hammer
10. A Legend Reborn
11. Run With The Devil (bonus track)
12. Head Over Heels (bonus track)
13. Templars Of Steel (bonus track)
14. Let The Hammer Fall (bonus track)
15. Renegade (bonus track)
16. Hammerfall (bonus track)
DVD (The Templars Renegade Crusade):
01. Intro
02. I Want Out (Video Montage from Hansen Studios)
03. Unchained (Live in Switzerland)
04. Legacy of Kings (Live in U.S.A.)
05. Remember Yesterday (Live in Japan)
06. Warriors Of Faith (Live in Chile)
07. Let The Hammer Fall (Live in Sweden)
08. I Believe (Live in Sweden)
09. Breaking The Law (Video Montage)
10. WireWorld Studios (The Making of “Renegade”)
11. Renegade (Video Clip)
12. Renegade Album Launch
13. Always Will Be (Video Clip)
14. Raise The Hammer (Live in Switzerland)
15. Stronger Than All (Live in Chile)
16. The Renegade World Crusade:
Templars Of Steel (Live in Germany)
Let The Hammer Fall (Live in Germany)
Renegade (Live in Germany)
HammerFall (Live in Germany)
17. Heeding The Call (Live in Sweden, Acoustic Version)
18. Gold Album Party
19. A Legend Reborn
(Video Montage)
20. Outro
