Legacy of Kings
| Track Listing 1. Heeding the Call 2. Legacy of Kings 3. Let the Hammer Fall 4. Dreamland 5. Remember Yesterday 6. At the End of the Rainbow 7. Back to Back 8. Stronger Than All 9. Warriors of Faith 10. The Fallen One 11. Ravenlord (bonus track) 1998 Nuclear Blast |
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| More Releases by Hammerfall Hammerfall - Glory to the Brave (1997) Hammerfall - Renegade (2000) Hammerfall - I Want Out EP (1999) |
Related Stuff(in sound) Manowar - Kings of Metal (1988) Nocturnal Rites - Afterlife (2000) Iron Fire - Thunderstorm (2000) |
| In the beginning of the 1990’s , Heavy Metal as a genre was
practically speaking “dead”. OK, there were some underground acts here and
there, and Iron Maiden were still selling, but all in all the Metal scene was very, very
limited and in most of Europe (except Germany, of course) and the United States there were
“no” Metal scene at all. This situation lasted for some years, until the Swedish
Templars in Hammerfall hit the streets with their debut “Glory to the Brave” - a
quite good disc that’s reviewed by the excellent Alanna Evans somewhere else on this
site. After the remarkable success this album had in getting Heavy Metal out to the masses
(the long-haired and spike-wearing masses that is) the expectations to the follow-up,
namely this disc, was quite big. I, for one, have really never been able to see what’s so special with Hammerfall’s music - OK, it’s Heavy Metal and that is good, but I’m definitely one of those who think that Hammerfall is really nothing but a quite OK band that’s been hyped waaaay to much by the press. They have some good songs, but I really don’t see what’s so special about their music. But having said that, pure Heavy Metal is always worth listening too, and that’s just what I’m gonna do now… |
| 1. Heeding the Call This fast and furious opener (which is also released as a single) is definitely one of the album’s highlights. It starts with short drum intro before the guitars kicks in with a quite good riff. The double kick drums are there as always, and although Joacim Cans’ voice may sound a bit this at times he sings quite good on this one, especially when he stays in the middle of his range, that is. The chorus is and melodic, and we also get some quite cool sing along “oooh” parts. The solo by former GIT-graduate and Malmsteen-fan Stefan Elmgren is quite melodic and not extremely fast, but it fits the tune quite good. 2. Legacy of Kings Another straight-ahead quite fast HM-tune, again with some good riffing, again with a nice and melodic (though maybe too predictable) chorus (which of course modulates a whole-tone up in the end), again with Cans sounding best when he avoids the highest notes, and again with a respectable solo (this time featuring sweep picking) by Elmgren. The lyrics too fits quite well into the pack - “Legacy of Kings, forever to survive, we’re Riding on the Wings, unchained and free alive forever more”. 3. Let the Hammer Fall After the two quite fast openers we needed some slower stuff now, and that’s just what we get with this mid-paced, traditional 80’s Heavy Metal number. The riffing is great in it’s simplicity, and I especially fancy the rhythm guitar riffing in the verse parts. The chorus is very simple, just the title repeated, and we once again gets one of those Helloween-/Edguy’ish sing along parts. 4. Dreamland And now it’s speed time again. This is for me the absolute highlight of the disc, from the cool intro riff featuring those squealing pinched harmonics to the relaxed verse, the more “intense” (in the non-Morbid Angel meaning of the word) bridge to the absolutely eggsalent chorus. In addition to having the best melody-line on the entire album it also shows how a good arrangement could strengthen a song, with tasty guitar lines in the background. After the second chorus there’s a quite Iron Maiden-influenced “galloping” part followed by a nice solo again by Stefan Elmgren, before the song finishes off with a couple of choruses. A terrific tune. 5. Remember Yesterday Every nice chick has a ugly girlfriend, right?? Yeah. And after the nice “Dreamland” the ugly girlfriend had to follow, right?? Yeah. And here it is. This “power” ballad STINKS. Everything about it STINKS. If this is yesterday, I’d rather forget it…. It’s a mystery how In Flames-genius Jesper Strömblad could co-write something like this though… 6. At the End of the Rainbow … there is gold, isn’t it? Well, no, not quite. After the remarkably bad “Remember Yesterday” this had to be better, and it is, no doubt. Another mid-tempo thingy is the matter here, and it’s quite good too. It’s kinda groovy with it’s simple bass/drum intro and the chorus melody is nice. The solo by Warlord (?) guitarist William J. Tsamis on the other hand is NOT very good. It’s predictable and boooring with a TERRIBLE guitar sound. No, just get me Oscar Dronjak’s phone number and I’ll do it better myself next time…. 7. Back to Back As usual with Hammerfall we get a cover tune in between, and this time it’s the Pretty Maids tune “Back to Back”. And it’s actually quite good, the boys have made a decent version of an already decent track, nothing more to say about that. 8. Stronger than All Some guys, and Oscar Dronjak (HF rhythm guitarist and writer of this track) is among them, say that Heavy Metal should be kept simple. I do not agree. If simplicity is the goal, the songs have to be VERY good, and this track is just not that. It’s completely average, some guys are raving about it but I’m definitely not one of them. Average, average, average…. The solo is quite good though. 9. Warriors of Faith After the quite good start (except for the already mentioned ballad) the CD now flattens more out with a couple of average tracks. “Stronger than All” is one, “Warriors of Faith” is another. Fast songs (although Hammerfall are never among the most brutal speedsters in the genre) may be good, but double bass drums alone is not making a song worth spending much time with. This track is as example of that. Neither the music nor the lyrics (“They search the desert plains in the land of no return, to seek out the danger, time to burn”) gets more than OK, although the chorus and the riff before the solo is a bit better than the rest of the track. 10. The Fallen One And after a couple of average but OK tracks it’s ballad time again…. And once again it Sucks Big Time. Although a step or maybe even two above “Remember Yesterday”, this is once again “power” ballads at it’s worst. But this track has one highlight in all it’s misery - the “oh yeah” pronounced by Cans at about 3:44. Laughing time!!! 11. Ravenlord (Bonus Track) The album just could not end with a track like “The Fallen One”, so it’s time for another cover tune, and this time it’s the Stormwitch tune “Ravenlord” that gets the Hammerfall treatment. And once again it’s quite well done, this is actually one of the highlights of the disc, IMO. Too bad it’s just a limited edition bonus track, cuz this is a nice little ditty. I think it’s featured on one of the singles they’ve released, though. |
Well, to sum it up a bit we get a solid dose of
straight ahead Heavy Metal from these Swedish swordsters, but although there are a couple
of nice tunes here (the opener, the title track, “Dreamland” and the two cover
songs mainly) there are also some songs that are touching VERY close to the
“average” mark and we also get two TERRIBLE ballads. So all in all this is a
quite good, quite (but at times very) enjoyable album well worth purchasing for the
die-hard Metal fan, if not for someone else… And hey guys, you’ve proven that
you CAN make a great ballad if you want, the title track of “Glory To The Brave”
is magnificent!!! Let’s try to awaken those sprits again, shall we? |
