Category: HAMMERFALL

Swedish power metal veterans HAMMERFALL are set to release ”Hammer of Dawn”, their 12th album, this weekend. With each record, HammerFall is musically turning less ‘power’ and much more commercial, as happens with all acts of this ilk. Their typical brand of stomp ‘n’ pomp, arena-built metal, anchored by epic cinematic storytelling is still into their music, and there’s a lot of fans of this type of music out there.
Twelve records into their career, you could forgive HammerFall for resting on their laurels. Their legacy is already established, but rather than phoning it in, they’ve written more merry melodies than Warner Bros. This album isn’t subtle, but it is a well-produced and hugely entertaining record that shines like a ray of wildly optimistic sunlight. Any cultural commentators out there still desperately clinging to the stereotype that metal music is for suicidal, Satan-worshipping malcontents, need to spend a weekend with this album. And a Viking re-enactment society with access to a limitless supply of beer…

Swedish rockers HAMMERFALL are back with “Dominion”, their new album out tomorrow August 16. For those who remember the resurrection that melodic metal experienced in the late ’90s in Europe, the name Hammerfall embodies the most nostalgic side of said time period, bringing a thought dead sound once purveyed by the likes of Accept and Judas Priest with enough of...