With the exception of In Flames, HammerFall may be the most hated band in all of metal. Why? Well, that’s a good question that requires a daunting amount of time to answer. Maybe it’s the inclusion of uninteresting, power metal formulas that reside throughout their music. Or, perhaps it’s the pretension that allowed them to craft an album title such as “Chapter V: Unbent, Unbowed, Unbroken.” At any rate, if you’ve enjoyed HammerFall in the past, it’s safe to say that you’ve got another solid disc to spin. If you live to hate them – however – then you’ll be pleased as well, because this isn’t radically different from anything they’ve coined in the past.

“Secrets” is actually a cool opening with its meandering, and guitar wankery. But, it also becomes a downer as soon as the vocalizations enter the foray. Admittedly, the singer can hit his share of notes, and the instrumentation is right around the adequate mark. I mean, these guys aren’t Quo Vadis or Alarum; however, their career has proven that they’re capable of trudging through power metal tunes. Another strength of “Chapter V: Unbent, Unbowed, Unbroken” is the energetic iteration. HammerFall seem to like dabbling in this particular style of music, and I think many of you metalheads out there have a big problem with that. Don’t bother me, though. I’m just the messenger. “Blood Bound” and “Fury of the Wild” aren’t cataclysmically different from the norm, but the latter is just plain laugh-out-loud funny. Songs like “Hammer of Justice” and “Never, Ever” (with its melodrama) are basically inconsequential as well. “Born to Rule” is sterner, but ultimately can’t pick up lost ground.

It’s easy to enter a HammerFall review with preconceived notions (which you probably did), but it’s not exactly detrimental because the band have obviously chosen to tear away at the standardized, power metal genre for the stint of their career. I didn’t hate this, though it’s not something I’ll listen to ever again.

[This review was first published on the now defunct scandinavianmetal.info webzine]

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