Leading a mid/late-90s European revolution, alongside the likes of Rhapsody, Firewind, Primal Fear and , Hammerfall were the most visible of this triumphant cohort, emerging just as the leading lights of 80s classic metal were fading to a low wattage. Back then, one-time trailblazers like , Iron Maiden, Manowar, Dio and Accept were floundering in increasingly shallow pools, unsure how to react to the decade’s hostile environment, when the fashion police were coming for our leather trousers, gatefold vinyl and patched denim. In those draconian times, when even Germany’s magazine was declaring heavy metal dead, the release of Hammerfall’s giddily thrilling debut felt not unlike the arrival of a saviour king on a rescue mission.
The mission: to inject some youthful energy and defiant pride into the embattled and scattershot trad metal landscape, and secure a glorious future for studded leather, heroic high notes and songs about slaying dragons. Their mission was a far greater success than many dared to hope. Fast-forward to 2024, and Hammerfall have long since settled in as a Swedish metal institution, surviving their own challenges, misfires and near-death experiences to remain unbent, unbowed and unbroken after nearly 30 years, maintaining a restless work rate that feels as Teutonic as their choppy, martial guitar tones.
However, in a year when Priest, , Accept and many more pensionable legacy legends have returned with beautifully crafted new records to command live stages well into their 60s and 70s, are the saviour kings of 1997 still relevant, still necessary, still worthy of our love and respect? 2022’s saw this quintet reaffirm their bonds and shake off the Covid-induced lethargy – a context that lent it a more profound emotional pull than usual. can, unsurprisingly, be dubbed ‘more of the same’, but every album stands or falls on the strength of its songs, and this 13th full-length maintains a rock-solid standard throughout, with closing mini-epic proving to be one of Hammerfall’s most subtly elaborate and stirring compositions. These Gothenburgers always majored in pretty basic, riff-driven, meat’n’potatoes HM to get heads banging, feet tapping and fingers twiddling along invisible frets.
There’s plenty of that, of course – speed metal singalong ( ); the sprightly staccato stomp of ; galloping sky-puncher – but there’s also evidence that their ability to tug at the heartstrings keeps getting sharper and craftier. might be Hammerfall’s best ballad, Joacim Cans digging ever deeper to find new levels of emotive nuance and dynamic involvement in his voice, and Oscar Dronjak’s guitar ringing with a fragile elegance you might never have associated with these no-frills rivet-heads. Meanwhile, rhythmic Wacken-baiting call-and-response anthem is one of the sturdiest earworms that Hammerfall have unleashed for many a year, helping hoist the LP to the top end of their latter-day average.
Chris has been writing about heavy metal since 2000, specialising in true/cult/epic/power/trad/NWOBHM and doom metal at now-defunct extreme music magazine Terrorizer. Since joining the Metal Hammer famileh in 2010 he developed a parallel career in kids' TV, winning a Writer's Guild of Great Britain Award for BBC1 series Little Howard's Big Question as well as writing episodes of Danger Mouse, Horrible Histories, Dennis & Gnasher Unleashed and The Furchester Hotel. His hobbies include drumming (slowly), exploring ancient woodland and watching ancient sitcoms.
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