Hammerfall, “Avenge the Fallen,” Nuclear Blast Records

Review by Kira L. Schlechter, Heavy Hags

After 30 years in any career, it’s natural for one to pause and reflect – on what’s accomplished, on what’s next, on one’s eventual end, even.

The Swedish band Hammerfall is rather at that point with its latest, “Avenge the Fallen.” While it’s still the cheery adrenaline rush of all their albums, singer Joacim Cans, guitarists Oscar Dronjak and Pontus Norgren, bassist Fredrik Larsson, and drummer David Wallen are definitely thinking about this particular moment in their lives – being middle age – on this, their 13th album. And a solid bunch of tunes they are: tight, precise, to the point, and built on a bedrock of some truly memorable riffs. 

Like the title track, whose deadly simple, but deadly effective, riff melody – one they bring back before the chorus and abbreviate before the end – sets the mood for the song’s fist-raising, defiant sentiment. Joacim poses some interesting rhetorical questions to open: “What is the worst, be the one who died/Or be the one who survives/Better be saved or forever young/Or forgotten, erased by the tide?” His high tenor voice –that most classic of metal instruments – is supple throughout; he’s totally comfortable with himself vocally. By midway, his warrior character has shaken off his inertia and realizes, “this is the mission, I must carry on,” vowing an “eye for an eye for the fallen ones.”

“The End Justifies” is one of those odes to our genre, an ode to the band themselves, and an ode to their fans – a “yay all of us” for holding the hammer high, if you will. Set to David’s crisp, spotless drumming, the tip of the hat of the first verse begins with the band – “Here we go again/Chapter 13 has been penned” (get it?) – and their acknowledgement that they are like us: “Judged by fame and fortune, bigotry/The fuel to feed the fire.” The second verse is the audience, who “came to our side” and found a place where all are welcome (“The road we paved is free/Free for all, for you and me.” And so the theme, “the end justifies,” is that the result is worth all it takes to get there, to this mutual place of bliss that is metal.

“Freedom” makes nicely subtle commentary on self-determination and science versus the shackles of religion. Some will stick to the old ways: “Fear divine damnation and its sacred wrath/Chart your moral course to steer your path/The blind will lead, excuse of perfect ignorance,” Joacim notes. And some will evolve, himself included: “On the gleaming wings of science, we proceed.” The second verse becomes more pointed and is completely timely: “What is this, the future or repeated past/Faith instead of reason, it will never last/Rise and be the master of your destiny/Without anyone’s permission to be free.” Resonant, manly “Ohs” separate the verses and, together with the twin guitars echoing the melody, bring the track to a ringing close.   

My first listen to the truly majestic “Hail to the King” was the first of many, it’s just that good (and it translates terrifically live, as it did on Hammerfall’s recent tour with Kamelot). It’s a beautifully poetic eulogy to this fallen ruler – “Ravens in mourning, all crying out loud/Sending the message of death through the clouds/Now as one life ends, another begins/Again, the sun is rising” – the king is dead, long live the king. Fredrik’s stately bass lines in the chorus give depth and heart to Joacim’s poignant thoughts. Its call-and-response chorus is a headbanger, a fist-raiser … everything you want in a metal chorus. The transitional riff after the chorus is almost folky, and the way they revisit the chorus at the end – first only the melody, then the addition of the vocals, then the melody only again but downtuned, somber and reflective – checks all the emotional boxes. 

So if you were connecting any dots, “Hero To All” might be the next chapter in the “Hail to the King” saga, this next inspirational, salvational figure who draws men to fight for him – “He brought the light, made us prepared to fight,” and is a hero for one and for all. It may be quicker in tempo than its predecessor, but it maintains that theme of honor and brotherhood. 

As any of my readers from other sites knows, I’m not much for sappy, syrupy ballads. But “Hope Springs Eternal” is neither of those, for one, and for another, Joacim’s voice is eminently suited for it. And for yet another, it speaks not of romance or love, but of the fleeting nature of life (“Here today, gone by tomorrow, my friend”) of wanting to leave a legacy (“I wish to live before and beyond my death”), but realizing the best legacy is to live day by day (“I’m not immortal, I’m just a man/Raised to live and do the best I can/Life to the limit, every day’s a brand new start”). All of us at this certain age start thinking about our own mortality, but Joacim’s damn well not done, as he says, “Without dreams, you will cease to exist.” Hammerfall continuing to actively tour and make new music is proof of that. 

“Burn It Down” is one of those typical songs of epic battle, of fighting a nameless evil, of bringing justice – “We must fight and defend to make it right” – you know the ones. But in the Swedes’ hands, they never get boring, with little cinematic lines like “Here we are, the mighty opponents/Here we stand with the wind in our hair/You promise heaven, we give hell” to sweeten the pot.

A thematic reprise of “Hope Springs Eternal,” “Capture the Dream” is a message to all using himself (or themselves) as an example. It’s a look back at the past (“Been trying to shut me down since the beginning … They’ve been trying to undermine me right at my own grounds”) and a suggestion of how to move on (“When the future seems too bleak, don’t look there for answers/Look inside yourself, be true to you alone”).  This one really benefits from their favorite call-and-response chorus technique – a very slight tempo change beneath the final choruses shakes things up a little. The fadeout is Joacim/the band reiterating that they remain, “still reaching for the stars … through the winds of change.”

“Rise of Evil,” through its juxtaposition of “the devil and the maker,” of “Jesus Christ … and Lucifer,” of those who “scream ‘Your soul is mine’,” is an observation of how everyone fights that battle between good and evil within themselves all the time and how you can’t rely on either one – “I dial the number 666, but no reply/I knock on heaven’s door before I say goodbye,” in a clever rejoinder – so the only solution is to “uprise and precede ‘em.” That guitar flourish before each line of the chorus is ear candy, as is the switch of the band doing the call and Joacim doing the response in the final chorus.

In keeping with what has become the album’s de facto theme, “Time Immemorial” gives us no happy ending: “One day, your dream/Will be gone without a warning,” Joacim sings, so you’d better “Try to cherish every morning” and keep striving, because “not a soul ever wins by playing small.” To drive home the point, the verses are hectic and the chorus is lengthened out, slower, almost in an attempt to slow time while all the while knowing that it is “standing still for no one, constant is its chime.” The ending is somber, just Joacim, orchestration, and wordless backing vocals. 

So “Avenge the Fallen” becomes noteworthy for capturing a band who’s totally not done – not even close – but who knows the future is finite. It might even be the first metal album to address aging, and horns up to them for doing so.