Published on Jan 28, 1999
As much as I am looking forward to the return of heavy metal’s
popularity, I’m starting to see the drawback to this happening –
and it’s the same thing that caused the whole genre to collapse in
upon itself a decade ago.
The problem? Lame bands, lame material. I could name dozens of
bands whose output in the ’80s fell under this heading (but I’ll
hold off – I need fodder for future reviews), and I really hate to
say this, but I’m starting to see it again.
Case in point:
Legacy Of Kings by Hammerfall. Were this disc to have come
from an American band, I’d call for the harshest torture known to
man – that is, tie the members down and make them listen to Vanilla
Ice non-stop for a week. But Hammerfall is actually from Sweden –
and, in a sense, this kind of metal is more forgivable, since the
whole scene never quite experienced the death as it did on this
side of the pond.
And while the album isn’t wretched, it hardly qualifies as great
material. This album evokes the images of what would happen if
Manowar and Dokken were to merge – all pose, some flash, little
substance.
I know I’m begging for hate mail from the Manowar fans (who are
almost cult-like in their devotion to that band), but the
comparisons have to be drawn when you listen to some of the lyrics,
which border on the ridiculous. Sample chorus from “Heeding The
Call”: “Heeding The Call, one and for all / Never surrender, with
glory we’ll fall / Brothers unite, let’s stand up and fight /
Fullfilling our fate, we are Heeding The Call”. I don’t know if
this is a heavy metal song or an Army recruitment ad, for God’s
sake – warning sign number one. (The reason these guys remind me of
Manowar is they both share the same style of manhood-swinging,
metal-as-religion songwriting – and it still sounds lame
today.)
Warning sign number two – the band works their name into a song
or song title. Proof: “Let The Hammer Fall,” another song that
struts the strut, but doesn’t have solid enough footwear. (“Let The
Hammer Fall”? Lay ’em on the anvil, guys, and I’ll start
hammering.)
The saving grace for
Legacy Of Kings is that the music isn’t grating, and it does
become a mild guilty pleasure for fans of the genre – after a
couple of listens, the fun is gone. But, since the album passes
rather quickly, the damage is minimal.
The guitar work of Oscar Dronjak and Stefan Elmgren is pretty
solid, and Patrik Räfling’s drum skills are impressive. But
Magnus Rosén’s bass is all but lost in the mix, and the
concept of harmony vocals is a hopeless cause for this band. Joacim
Cans is a competent vocalist, but not someone who would stand out
amongst the best in the world of heavy metal.
Legacy Of Kings is the kind of album that will appeal to
those who still live in the late ’80s and who have refused to let
the bad side of heavy metal die. For the rest of us, it’s a
passable album, but hardly one worth going out of your way for.