Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

It almost feels as if there an element of greed attached to the way the Scandinavian countries have dominated the world of Metal in recent times, greed or perhaps something more profound, something that would have been seen as verging on the edge of musical insanity only three decades ago. If the late 70s saw the emergence of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, then the epoch that we live in, this time of feeling of global communication but complete disconnection from the way we live our fleeting lives should be seen as the time of a new dominant force, the second Viking Invasion, a lot more Metal, and the only pillaging is that of the U.K.’s and America’s ever loosening grip on the title of the home of the genre.

For HammerFall this is a time of greatness, the thrust of the battle is encompassed fully in their new studio album (r)Evolution and it strikes yet another blow upon the green fields of the Metal coast of their British counterparts. For Joacim Cans, Oscar Dronjak, Pontus Norgren,  Fredrik Larsson and  Anders Johansson the rampaging sound offers no chance of surrender, no chance to organise rebellion or stage a defence worthy of Bruce Dickinson in the role of King Harold, HammerFall have managed to find yet another nail, a hefty one full of anger in which is pounded directly into the coffin of British Heavy Metal.

The music on offer by the five men in HammerFall strikes at the very heart of what the British scene was offering even two decades ago and goes hand in hand with much of the tremendous music on offer, regardless of the genre, from the northern lands of Scandinavia. Tracks such as Live Life Loud, We Won’t Back Down, the excellent Winter is Coming, Tainted Metal and Evil Incarnate create havoc between the ears, they batter the hastily arranged fortifications to splinters and offers salvation to those willing to concede that resistance to the second Viking invasion is a futile effort, these guys are to stay.

Ian D. Hall