HammerFall
No Sacrifice, No Victory

I have no words to define this new release from Hammerfall... really. 

I should take a step back and think about how much I liked their debut, about when I wrote them off after "Legacy Of Kings" and, especially, after that atrocity of "Renegade." About when I suddenly went crazy with joy listening to "Crimson Thunder," "Chapter V," and the last one (even if a tad repetitive, but still a great heavy-power record) "Threshold." 

In short, this has been Hammerfall for me. A band that has always known how to alternate states of joy with moments of anger. Lately, then, my metal frenzy was so high that I was hardly thinking anymore... every new release seemed perfect, or nearly so. A band that, even if not very innovative, not very original, had managed to build around themselves a group of fans and, why not, some detractors too. Because that's what Hammerfall is: you either love them or hate them. And, lately, I was loving them, a lot. Also for their attempt and effort to abandon the power sounds of their beginnings to devote themselves to the heavy metal so dear to Ronnie James Dio and Judas Priest (an attempt fully successful in the best-seller "Chapter V").

Now here I am about to listen to this "No Sacrifice, No Victory" and... the emptiness. Total dismay. Nothingness. A black hole. A damn nothing, to be explicit and not very poetic.

"No Sacrifice, No Victory" is, no less, an album that shamelessly refers to the experiments of "Crimson Thunder" mixing them with those of the latest "Threshold." It churns out songs that, if these two records had never been composed, might have convinced me. But, unfortunately, that's not the case. You can smell the stench of "craft" and recycling from a mile away. 

Same powerful songs, with orc-like riffs but already heard in dozens of their other songs; same catchy and sly choruses. The usual Hammerfall who don't have the courage to propose something different, perhaps because they really lack the guts (fear of disappointing some blinkered fan?) or simply because they themselves no longer know what the hell to invent, write, and/or compose. And, mind you, this is not their fault, but due to the genre that offers very few innovative cues. In short, the "Hammerfall mathematical function" can be described as a very sinusoidal curve. Now we are back in the descent zone after having traveled a good ascent. 

I don't mention all the song titles, there's no need. Perhaps I would save the title track, "Legion," the final "One Of A Kind" (with a nice central break), and maybe another couple of songs in which the only thing that manages to surprise me is the skill of the guitarists, who manage to deliver excellent solos and great riffs. But always in the same songs, we sink into the already-heard territory. And let's not talk about the dull obligatory ballad that always has to be in these damn power-heavy records, making the decisive step for the band that is now on the edge of a precipice.

A final note on the cover of The Knack, a historic rock band from the seventies. I'm referring to "My Sharona," recreated fairly faithfully to the original, in which the only discordant note is Cans' voice, which doesn't quite fit the song... details.

In conclusion, an unsuccessful record that attempts to retrace the steps of the past, trying to mix the best, but only managing to bring out the worst of the band.

To be avoided. Unless you're dying for Hammerfall!!