Tonight I am reviewing one of my favorite Hammerfall albums, yes, their classic Renegade. It kicks off with the memorable Templars of Steel with it's amazing sing a long chorus. This album is the epitome of what it is to be Hammerfall, there are amazing guitar parts, extremely powerful bass riffs and solid drums. The vocals are mind boggling, they have a sing a long feel and a fiery passion behind them that makes you want to listen to this album all day, every day, until your brain leaks out of your ears. Yes this album is BRAIN-LEAKINGLY good. As a guitarist, I find Hammerfall's guitar parts, in particular their solos to be wonderful experiences.
The guitar work on this album is formidable. It has dozens of mind blowing riffs and beautiful solos. For each song there is typically a killer intro solo/riff and then it breaks into a powerful verse which uses some classic powermetal techniques to drive the music along. What is interesting is that there are a lot of fast bass lines however the music does not really have a thrash feel. The other impressive part about the guitar is the supermelodic solos. They have a beautiful feel and add a lot to the whole experience for me. The bass is steady, at times it has solid and angry riffs at other times it might have a walking line that gives the music a unique feel. The drums are unique on this album. Sometimes they make the song powerful, as in Templars of Steel, other times they just do their normal old job of keeping the beat. But always they are inventive and powerful.
The vocals of Joacim Cans are as I said previously, Brain-leakingly good. Usually they are soaring powerful on the almighty winds of his vocal chords. Other times they are soft and sad. Always they have a very melodic and beautiful feel. Cans shows his vocal range when he puts hard rockers like Living in Victory Right next to the beautiful acoustic track Always Will Be. The best part of Cans vocals is the sing a long feel you often get. You often find yourself chanting along with the easily singable choruses. The backup singing done by the band adds a lot to the music and makes the music layered. The lyrics are almost all fantasy based. However Hammerfall is willing to back off the fantasy elements at times and write some love songs.
Overall this album is … BRAIN LEAKINGLY GOOD, (ima write that down). This album captures the essence of Hammerfall in it's fantastic and beautiful glory. The guitar is colossal, it has riffs that are chunky and melodic, there are classic power metal verse bits and solos that are so beautifully melodic it makes me smile. The bass has a ton of killer riffs and fills and fills out the music. The drums are creative and powerful and create a great sound for the band. Cans has an amazing voice that you want to sing a long too and his great lyrics make this entirely possible. All in all this is a killer album, my favorite track is Templars of Steel.
OVERALL 10/10
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