Hammerfall - Threshold Review
Posted by Evocator Manes on 11.13.2006
Swedish power metal forerunners return with another installment.
Hammerfall Threshold
2006
Nuclear Blast
7.0
The album sounds very practiced and very polished and seemingly possessed of a single vision. Checking the album credits, guitarist Oscar Dronjak was responsible or co-responsible for nearly every single song on this, so it's probably no great surprise. Hammerfall continues to tread the same musical ground they "blazed" some years back, which is a more or less modernizing of the Judas Priest/Iron Maiden style of songwriting combined with Manowar's penchant for medieval war-oriented lyrics, though nowhere near as over the top as Manowar.
On this album, they seem to have added almost a pop sensibility. Dronjak insisted that bassist Marcus Rosen play with a pick in the interests of sounding "heavier" and the results are noticeable. The bass has a more clearly defined "thud" when the riffs get rolling and it sounds like a conscious effort was made to get closer to older Judas Priest. Unfortunately, the songs are just not there as much, except for the three written or co-written by guitarist Stefan Elmgren, one of which is a rocking little instrumental number.
The band really hit a magic bullet with Chapter V, the album preceding this one. Dronjak was fresh off of a motorcycle accident, which left him unable to play for a long stretch and Elmgren and vocalist Joacim Cans were fresh off of Cans' solo album stint, which did the band more favors than probably anyone realized at the time. They then met up with the women's Swedish Curling team to combine for a video for the Olympic effort of those athletes, which may or may not have helped them get the gold medal. Probably eager to keep up the attention on the band, they hit the studio quickly.
The biggest difference between this album and that is that they were audibly much hungrier on that last album. On this album, they sound as if they're one step from phoning things in and probably should have taken a little time off before resuming the studio. The argument could be made that the band is more or less cookie-cutter, by-the-numbers as it is, but whether true or not, this album is certainly going to quell no arguments along those lines...
The artwork again is by Samwise Didier and features the usual character with a hammer, though this time he's surrounded by fire rather than snow. The usual band photos are in the interior, with Cans wearing what looks like some kind of racing jacket. Lyrics are fully reprinted and the credits are there, but overall, this is not a very solid packaging effort, perhaps keeping with the phoned in idea...
The 411: If you've heard Hammerfall before, you've heard this also, basically. Quality-wise, this is
probably right around Renegade, perhaps slightly better. If you're a fan of the band, this will fit
right in with their catalog as essentially more of the usual. If you're not familiar with them, start with
either Chapter V or Legacy Of Kings first...moderately recommended.
