HAMMERFALL — (r)Evolution (review)

Album · 2014 · Power Metal

3.5/5 · 2014-09-08
DippoMagoo

Going in to (r)Evolution (2014), the 9th full length album by Hammerfall, I was a bit nervous. Unlike most Hammerfall fans, I had been perfectly happy with their recent output. In fact, as much I liked the speed and energy of albums like Legacy of Kings (1998) and Renegade (2000), Infected (2011) quickly became my favorite album, due to its powerful sound, crushing riffs and the overall darker tone which felt like a welcome change from their typical cheesy fantasy themes. Of course, most of their fans completely disagree with me, and considered their last two albums to be by far their worst. So it's no surprise that they decided to return to their roots with (r)Evolution. The result is an album that would have fit in perfectly with the stronger albums from their middle period, especially Crimson Thunder (2002) and Threshold (2006), while still containing enough small elements of Infected to keep me happy.

(r)Evolution isn't the total return to the roots that the marketing and other reviews would make you think it is. While their first three albums emphasized the power metal elements of their music, and their last two albums switched to more of a heavy metal sound, this album is closer to their middle albums, which struck a fairly even balance between the two. So while fans of their early albums will find a few songs to be very excited about, I doubt they will like this as much as either Glory to the Brave (1997) or Legacy of Kings. If anything, the glorious, ultra speedy opener “Hector's Hymn” could cause fans to suffer from unrealistic expectations that the rest of the album can't quite live up to: It sounds like classic Hammerfall through and through, complete with lyrics that celebrate their earlier albums while worshipping the hammer wielding Hector, who appears on all but one of their album covers (his absence from the cover of Infected was another thing their fans criticized.)

While I tend to prefer for power metal bands to play really fast, I find Hammerfall pulls off their mid-tempo songs just as well, if not better than their speedy songs. When I first heard the single “Bushido”, my expectations shot up a bit, as it's exactly what I wanted: A strong main riff, mixed with epic vocal melodies and an absolutely spectacular chorus, that proves that even though Joacim Cans sounds a bit rougher than he did in their early years, he can still sing the epic melodies as well as ever. As always, he remains one of my favorite features of the band.

The rest of the album isn't quite as good as those two songs, but it's still excellent overall. Fans of their early albums have a few excellent speedy songs to enjoy, including “Live Life Loud”, “We Won't Back Down” and “Origins”, with that last one in particular reminding me a lot of Freedom Call, especially during the chorus. On the heavy metal side, songs like “Ex Inferis” and “Evil Incarnate” sound like they came straight from Infected, with a focus on slow, crushing riffs and the same dark and sinister tone that album had the whole way through. The former in particular is one of my favorites on the album. Elsewhere, the title track is simply a straight-forward and somewhat cheesy mid-tempo track, with rather silly lyrics, but it has so much energy to it that it still works anyway. On the weaker side, the ballad “Winter is Coming” doesn't really go anywhere, and the closing track “Wildfire” sounds like an experiment gone awry. While it is one of the fastest songs on the album, the slightly irritating main riff and electronic effects instantly threw me off, and while the repetitious chorus powered by choir vocals is something I'd usually like, on a Hammerfall album it simply sounds strange and out of place, even a bit annoying.

Despite that one big misfire, and the overall feeling that the band may be trying too hard to please everyone instead of just playing what they really want to play, (r)Evolution is another excellent Hammerfall album, that contains a perfectly even split between their two styles. I personally prefer Infected and their earlier albums because those were all more focused and cohesive compared to this one, but in the end (r)Evolution is a collection of 9 solid to excellent songs, one good song and only one misfire, which is certainly nothing to complain about.

80/100

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven: http://metaltube.freeforums.org/hammerfall-r-evolution-t3748.html)