HAMMERFALL Hammer of Dawn | Weekly Heavy Metal Album Review

Released by Napalm Records on February 25th, 2022

Quick Background

Swedish metallers Hammerfall have been carrying the flag of true/power metal since 1993 when Oscar Dronjak (guitars) started the band. Soon after Joacim Cans (vocals) joined him and the debut album Glory to the Brave was released in 1997. Legacy of Kings followed in the next year and to me it's still their best album. 9 more albums followed and despite the only constants being the two founders, the band never had a break or extended downtime. To be fair the only line-up change since 2009 has been on the drums. In each album there are several anthemic songs that make us fans raise our fists and bang our heads immediately. The sheer power of their performance and their irresistible melodies are legendary and I love seeing them live. I've always seen them as a more contained version of Manowar with deep Helloween and Judas Priest influences. But they have created their own sound and stuck to it without any significant changes. Hammerfall were massively important for the underground power metal movement of the 90's. It's in fact a band that I've seen 10 times live, so one of the bands I've been the most live. But the latest albums have all been just OK and not impressive, so let's see now. 

Hammer of Dawn

After 2019's Dominion, Hammerfall is back with their 12th studio album. Hammer of Dawn brings us 10 straightforward metal tunes in just about 45 minutes. It's a high energy album, despite one ballad, with no bells and whistles. "Brotherhood" opens the album with all trademarks and clichés we would expect from them. It's a catchy song, it sounds very familiar and the lyrics are kind of a compilation of previous songs: "the hammer will fall" and "hammers held high we are heeding the call".  It's not very different with the title track "The hammer beside me, a heart made of steel". This one reminds me of Gloryhammer which is ironic since Hammerfall inspired them. "No Son of Odin" is my favorite song on this album just because the chorus sounds really great and fun to sing along. Musically it is similar to the other songs but the songwriting here was a bit more inspired specially on the vocal melodies. "Venerate Me" which features King Diamond, closes the strong album start with those new four potential live favorites. There are two bright spots on the second half of the album "Live Free or Die" (old Helloween style song, with some variations, and slightly better lyrics, and great vocal performance) and "State of the W.I.L.D." (such a catchy chorus!). Overall, Joacim Cans delivered very solid vocal performance, no surprises there. The guitar work is mainly based on power chords, palm muting and chugging guitars. There's not a lot of riffing or twin guitars. When present, the solos are short and to the point.  

The Picky Guy

Putting aside that one is ok with the lack of musical progression in their sound and the lazy lyrics, my problem with the album is the middle section. "Reveries" (some cool guitar riffs, but all that Na-na-na-na-na, no  sorry), "Too Old to Die Young" (super happy metal) and "Not Today" ( a ballad alla Scorpios that is expandable) do not work for me. They sound uninspired and not adding value. Same goes to the closer "No Mercy".

Wrap Up Opinion 

Look, I love this band for what they do, their first two albums are awesome and a playlist with my favorite songs from other albums are as much fun as I can have with Power Metal. Hammer of Dawn brings a few more songs to be added to my playlist and they will also fit well their live set. Besides that, Hammerfall have again played safe and delivered more of the same. Because of it about half of the songs don't add much value, therefore I'm giving it 77/100, a borderline good album with good Hammerfall songs in it. So long time fans will enjoy this, like I did (for the most part).

SCORE: 77/100

Genre: Power Metal

Released by Napalm Records on February 25th, 2022

Rating System

99 - 100 Perfect
94 - 98 Excellent
87 - 93 Great
82 - 86 Very Good
77 - 81 Good
66 - 76 Mixed
58 - 65 Bad

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