{"id":54487,"date":"2017-04-17T18:35:33","date_gmt":"2017-04-17T23:35:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=54487"},"modified":"2017-04-17T19:08:35","modified_gmt":"2017-04-18T00:08:35","slug":"hammerfall-built-to-last-music-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2017\/hammerfall-built-to-last-music-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Hammerfall | Built to Last"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Ron Higgins<\/span>
\n– Columnist —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"Hammerfall is back with its 10th studio album and it\u2019s a monster. The Swedish juggernaut has been churning out killer Power Metal for 20 years and they\u2019re still going strong. They first appeared back in 1997 with their debut release Glory to the Brave<\/em> and their latest offering is as powerful and fist-pumping as ever.<\/p>\n

Hammerfall was founded in Gothenburg, Sweden in 1993 by ex-Ceremonial Oath guitarist Oscar Dronjak. Although Metal\u2019s heyday of the \u201880s was fading into the past and grunge began to take over, bands like Hammerfall picked up the metal torch and began blazing new trails of metal mayhem. Killer riffs, blazing guitar solos, screaming vocals and catchy sing-along choruses were back and headed towards the 21st century.<\/p>\n

The bands latest offering, Built to Last<\/em>, is a worthy follow-up to 2014\u2019s impressive (r)Evolution<\/em>. Although musically it may not break any new ground, it does what it does best, gets your head banging right from the opening track \u201cBring It!\u201d Okay, the title and chorus may be a little cheesy but hey, they\u2019re challenging their audience to \u201cBring It\u201d while they themselves, well, ‘Bring It!’ It\u2019s a great opening track. Once your heart rate is up and your blood is pumping, along with your fists, they offer up \u201cHammer High,\u201d a fairly typical medieval Metal tune, replete with an infectious chorus.<\/p>\n

Next up is \u201cThe Sacred Vow,\u201d one of the album highlights. There\u2019s a nice acoustic guitar intro followed by some cool riffing and pounding drums. Again, there\u2019s another sing-along chorus and who wouldn\u2019t love the lyrical homage to this fantastic genre of music when they sing, \u201cThe sound of metal, the sweetest sound of all!\u201d Sweet, indeed!<\/p>\n

\u201cDethrone and Defy\u201d is another album highlight. The guitar playing is furious with blistering solos. The energy is high and if you have a penchant for watching soccer, it may just amp you up enough to turn you into a hooligan. Yeah, it\u2019s got power.<\/p>\n

After charging out of the gate at top speed with the first four songs they finally give the listener a rest with their obligatory mid-album ballad \u201cTwilight Princess.\u201d It starts with a lovely flute, invoking a more Folk-Metal feel, then leads into some fine guitar work and drums. There\u2019s an impressive lead guitar solo as well. As far as metal ballads go, this is one of the better ones, reminiscent of the outstanding Scorpions tune, \u201cStill Loving You.\u201d<\/p>\n

The second half of the album is just as good as the first and just as heavy. You\u2019ve got the furious dual ax-attack and galloping double-bass of \u201cStormbreaker,\u201d the catchy title track with group vocals in the chorus, the high-energy up-tempo \u201cThe Star of Home\u201d and the anthemic \u201cNew Breed,\u201d featuring the melodious choral declaration, \u201cNew breed, old breed, we are the same breed. Heavy Metal running through our veins!\u201d Finally, you\u2019ve got the closing track \u201cSecond to None.\u201d The tempo is a bit slower, beginning with a subtle keyboard intro, but features excellent guitar work and generates a bit of an epic feel, to close out the album. <\/p>\n

Overall, this is an excellent release by an extremely solid band. Some may complain that their sound doesn\u2019t change but as the saying goes, \u201cif it ain’t broke, don\u2019t fix it!\u201d And it certainly \u201cain’t broke.\u201d They do what they do and they do it well. In classic business parlance, their core competency is playing top-notch European Power Metal and there\u2019s no reason to change it. As Angus Young once said about his band, they just keep remaking the same album over and over. But when you\u2019ve got something that sounds as good as AC\/DC or Hammerfall, then that\u2019s certainly not a bad thing.<\/p>\n

What makes this album so enjoyable is that it stays true to form. There\u2019s no rap breakdown in the middle or use of sampling or autotune \u2013 no attempt to be \u201ccutting edge\u201d or \u201cAvant-guard.\u201d Just good, straight-ahead, Metal. Look at it this way, suppose that some aliens from Planet Clueless visit our lovely planet, have never heard of Heavy Metal, and really want to learn how to bang their large, green, pointy-eyed heads. You could always play them some Iron Maiden or Judas Priest (and you should), but then you could play them this epic release to showcase the very definition of Heavy Metal. This is, simply, classic Power Metal at its best.<\/p>\n

Hammerfall may not be as well-known in the states as they are in the rest of the world but they should be. And with more releases like this, they hopefully will be. After 20 years of shredding and still going strong, they, like this album, are clearly Built to Last<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Genres\tHeavy Metal, Power Metal<\/p>\n

Band:
\nJoacim Cans – Lead vocals
\nOscar Dronjak – Guitar and backing vocals
\nPontus Norgren Guitar and backing vocals
\nFredrik Larsson – Bass and backing vocals
\nJohan Koleberg – Drums and percussion<\/p>\n

Track Listing:
\n1.\tBring It!
\n2.\tHammer High
\n3.\tThe Sacred Vow
\n4.\tDethrone and Defy
\n5.\tTwilight Princess
\n6.\tStormbreaker
\n7.\tBuilt to Last
\n8.\tThe Star of Home
\n9.\tNew Breed
\n10.\tSecond to None<\/p>\n

Label: Napalm Records<\/p>\n

Website: http:\/\/www.hammerfall.net\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven Rating: [usr 9 size=20]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Ron Higgins – Columnist — Hammerfall is back with its 10th studio album and it\u2019s a monster. The Swedish juggernaut has been churning out killer Power Metal for 20 years and they\u2019re still going […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":54490,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15128],"tags":[13280,96,2491,12354,891,1097],"class_list":{"0":"post-54487","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2017","8":"tag-built-to-last","9":"tag-hammerfall","10":"tag-heavy-metal","11":"tag-music-review","12":"tag-napalm-records","13":"tag-power-metal"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54487"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54487\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}