Artist: HammerFall
Label: Nuclear Blast
Release: 2009
Length: 49:49
Rating: 4/5
Here’s the seventh studio album from HammerFall – the leading name of the old-school heavy metal revival that burst onto the scene in the mid-nineties, back when bands of this kind were mass-adopting the “power” (plus) metal prefix.
Once again HammeFall cling faithfully and firmly, through and through, to their formula, the one that shot them, as far back as the end of the last millennium, into the ranks of the most popular heavy metal bands of the era when heavy metal’s original forms were being brought back to life. Of course, HammerFall (as “No Sacrifice, No Victory” also proves) owe the biggest thanks for that first and foremost to Iron Maiden. You won’t escape those famous three-part harmonies or the classic riffing of the early eighties, shod with the most famous Maiden rhythm, this time either. If we just stroll through the track titles and brush past Hallowed Be My Name, you have to wonder whether it’s a bit of undercover clowning or simply a tribute at the big guys’ expense. Oh, and by the way, the basic guitar phrase in that song carries a typical “Renegade” grip.
It’s worth mentioning that last year HammerFall brought a new guitarist into the ranks, Pontus Norgren, who arrived from the Swedish melodic hard rock outfit The Poodles. He stepped into Elmgren’s boots with ease and took on the bulk of the solos, meaning the most demanding ones. Norgren has this craft down cold, since he did the job very effectively with The Poodles too. You can definitely feel the freshness that runs through the new songs. It was obvious that HammerFall simply needed that. In Legion, the extremely fast tapping is split in the production between the left and right speakers so that it alternates. If both guitarists play it, it’ll be interesting to watch that communication between them, especially at the first HammerFall show near you. Among the songs on the new album, Legion boasts one of the more demanding instrumental sections (well, within HammerFall’s range, of course), where the action of both guitars gets more intense. Norgren, as the newcomer, then introduces himself in the best possible way in the instrumental Something for the Ages, which (you won’t believe it!) in a tasteful sequence of motif trickery loaded with virtuosity even comes across as prog metal in places. Of course, no worries! The basic riff is shod in pure power metal fashion, and Norgren, as the songwriter, deftly forges the track into something compact so that it never loses its high flow of dynamics (the red thread).
One of this band’s great virtues has always been a downright fascinating rationality. Every note was always placed carefully in exactly the right spot, whether in a transitional flourish, a riff or a solo. This is a band that has always been frugal with notes. From the utterly banal solos on the debut, which nonetheless only kept growing as the band matured. And that’s decidedly noticeable on “No Sacrifice, No Victory” too. They won’t miss the mark. Yes, at the price of being generic, which can (still) work triumphantly, especially given that over the years HammerFall have carved out a little place in the sun, enough that we can pin the adjective “recognizable” on them.
You can tell HammerFall still live with the burden of a hugely successful debut, since a song like Between Two Worlds is shamelessly set on tracks that try to catch the magical moment of Glory To The Brave from that debut. Speaking of the debut, an interesting occurrence marking the release of the new HammerFall album is also the return of bassist Fredrik Larsson, who was part of the HammerFall lineup that put out the debut “Glory To The Brave”.
Thanks to that rationality, HammerFall once again effectively put all the basic punchy guitar riffs front and center, shod with the hard-hitting gallop of the indispensable Anders Johansson, and on top of it all sits the recognizable vocal of Joachim Cans, which the guys mostly backed in the choruses with multi-part, “manly” thunderous choral chants, adding to the dramatic atmosphere of the otherwise familiar, pompously anthemic chorus melodies. Any Means Necessary or One Of A Kind could easily swap places as the album’s opener or closer. Both, with their effective compactness and punchy melodicism, take the likely top spot on the album, alongside the mini-epic Legion. Any Means Necessary is a nod to the magic of the “Crimson Thunder” album, while One Of A Kind makes no secret of a longer journey straight back to the roots of the first two albums.
HammerFall are known for a pile of covers of famous artists, which they’ve absorbed into their own expression with more or less success. This time they tackled the classic hit My Sharona by The Knack from their 1979 debut “Get The Knack”. It’s a big party for the band in the studio, and while recoding the punky accent of the original,the levers of the metal machinery turn out to be a touch clumsy, but given the basic purpose we can turn a blind eye and give ourselves over to said party.
The arrival of a new guitarist has definitely bolstered the boldness of the arrangements on the new album. “No Sacrifice, No Victory” sounds mature, fresh, seasoned. In many ways it sounds retro HammerFall-style, which will definitely make nostalgics drool, and on top of that it offers some tremendously lovely, melodically polished arrangements of the lead motifs (especially the choruses), which has distinguished this band from the very beginning. An album, then, that all the loyal fans of this band will be happiest about, a band that has always championed the kind of metal that only “tickles pleasantly” and, thanks to that toxic melodicism, can always be accessible to the masses. “Pedal to the metal!”
Lineup
Joacim Cans – vocals, backing vocals
Oscar Dronjak – guitar, backing vocals
Pontus Norgren – guitar, backing vocals
Fredrik Larsson – bass guitar, backing vocals
Anders Johansson – drums
Production
Charlie Bauerfiend
Track list
1. Any Means Necessary (3:34)
2. Life Is Now (4:43)
3. Punish And Enslave (3:57)
4. Legion (5:35)
5. Between Two Worlds (5:27)
6. Hallowed Be My Name (3:56)
7. Something For The Ages (5:03)
8. No Sacrifice, No Victory (3:31)
9. Bring The Hammer Down (3:41)
10. One Of A Kind (6:14)
11. My Sharona (3:56)
