HammerFall - Glory to the Brave

82 days till W:O:A 2023.

I've written about bands where it was really hard to put them into a category. No such difficulties with HammerFall. They are the quintessence of Power Metal. HammerFall started as a side project from several musicians from the Gothenburg metal scene in 1993. Guitarist Oscar Dronjak founded the band together with drummer Jesper Strömblad from In Flames. Niklas Sundin and Mikael Stanne from Dark Tranquility joined soon after together with Johan Larsson on bass. Johan Larsson was replaced by Fredrik Larsson in 1994. As Mikael Stanne  was not able to perform in both bands, he was replaced by Joacim Cans as vocalist in 1996. Oscar Dronjak has been a constant member of HammerFall since 1993, Cans has been with the band since 1996. Frederik Larsson was with HammerFall from 1994 - 1997 and then again from 2007 onwards. The current line-up is completed by drummer David Wallin and guitarist Pontus Norgren.

HammerFall have released 12 studio albums so far and each of them has been very successful in Europe, especially in their home country Sweden. They have toured extensively throughout their career and this year will be their 9th time at W:O:A. For the sake of this blog article I've chosen their debut album Glory to the Brave (1997), a fan favourite up until today and ranked among the best best metal albums in several magazines. The album spawned two official music videos: The epic self-titled song Hammerfall and the obligatory power ballad Glory to the Brave. Bit cringe to watch today, but see for yourself.

I have to state though that Fredrik Larsson has the most beautiful metal hair. Just a tad jealous. Hammerfall is considered one of the best songs in HammerFall's career. You're getting super fast speed metal  here with a very memorable chorus that will stick with you for the rest of the week. Cans' vocals are super clean and strong, the lyrics perfectly understandable. I am no fan of Glory to the Brave, although many fans consider this to be HammerFall's best power ballad to this day. With 7:20 minutes it is just a bit too long for my taste. I actually prefer the second ballad on this album I Believe with the acoustic guitars, although I might stand alone with my opinion here.

Next track The Metal Age sounds a bit more foreboding and less uplifiting and I really like it as well. Child of The Damned is a cover version of Warlord's eponymous song. Warlord was one of the bands that influenced HammerFall and Joacim Cans would later be their vocalist for a short while from 2001 - 2002. Steel Meets Steel was one of the earliest written material from Oscar Dronjak is is yet another very straightforward and simplistic speed metal song, with no nonsense attached. Stone Cold features more playful guitar solos than the other songs and is yet again a bit slower and less uplifting than the other songs.

I love the mid-tempo interlude in this song and it is another one of my favourites on here. All in all, Glory to the Brave features very little I don't like. It is a solid and enjoyable album from start to finish and perfect example for power metal in its purest form with emphasis on simple, fast and catchy riff-work, memorable sing-along choruses,  blasting and powerful drumming and clean, strong vocals.

HammerFall were one of the very few bands I've know before starting my journey into metal here and Heeding the Call from their second album was frequently played around here. I am definitely hoping to hear this one live at Wacken this year, this will be pretty special for me.