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This is complete and utter crap.

Dissapointing to say the least. Some good songs but too much filler. And what the hell were they thinking when they wrote the borefest "Knights of the 21st Century"? Almost nothing memorable and Cronos evil vocals sounds like a joke to me. And like someone wondered, where are this more mature sound..?

Knights of the 21st Century sucks so much it defies comprehension. THE PROPEHCY AGGGGHHH! C'mon, that's nonsense. It screams of laziness.

The same goes for most of the songs. Aside from Secrets, Blood Bound and Born To Rule, there is nothing redeeming here. Cans sounds like crap which is surprising because I though his vocals to be the best part of Crimson Thunder. Dronjak is stretching on each song and not finding anything original or inspired to put into the music. I also wonder when Anders Johansson is going to get bored of playing the same drum patterns of album after album. Crimson Thunder was so much better than Renegade and I was eager for some more great music from the band but that did not happen with this album.

Hmm, I thought Renegade was way better than crimson thunder. Hearts on Fire is quite possibly the gayest song ever writting. It sounds like the Bee Gee's helped them write that song. Riders on the Storm is a good track and there's a couple other ones that are ok...but nothing will top legacy of kings....its unfortunate that Hammerfall's legacy will be one of crappy watered down gay music.

yep, I agree

Heuh ??

I didn't knew that Hammerfall released a new album

Thet just show how much i care about this band these days

I used to like them until Legacy of King.After that album they went downhill and never really recovered imo

Renegade was complete crap from the beginning to the end and Crimson Thunder had 2 decent songs and the rest were fillers.

I think that Hammerfall either need a line up change or a complete change in direction

I will probably give a shot at this new album just for the sake of it but somehow i already know that i will be disapointed

And , i should add that they need to drop the whole " Brave and epic warrior surrounded by lightning" stuff for their cd covers because it really don't fit these days and it's cheesy as hell.

Crystal Eyes seem to have understood that as shown by the cd cover for their new album so why not Hammerfall ? That would be a step in the good direction.

I find nothing wrong with the themes, fantasy, and album cover.. so ireally do not understand what you people are bashing. I sure hope Manowar does not release an album soon, so you guys wont post with your cheese bullshit!
Having said that... if the music is bad then it is simply bad :(
I have not heard it, so i will take your word for it.
It still scored an 80?? is this because of name recognition or are they truly going down hill
Crison Thunder really sucked and I am a huge power metal fan (insert-fantasy/knight/warrior thems..etc) Almost buy anything related to it actually!. I cannot imagine this album is worse than the last one??
I guess i will find out for myself when I waste $13 from theend. Heck it is not the first time I wasted money on metal and prob will not be the last.

I have no problem with fantasy themes either (well , when it's not too cheesy

It's just that Hammerfall have been using the same concept and pretty much the same cover (the guy with the hammer) since the beginning.It is recycled stuff and it get pretty boring and flat at some point (at least for me).A complete new change of direction would truly benifit that band imo

Now , you brought up Manowar but they are guilty of the exact same thing.They didn't really evolved since their debut and probably never will.Of course the fans like it that way in their case so i guess that it's not necessairly a bad thing.They have that whole"trOO metal warrior that will never sellout" image to preserve

It is cheesy but for Manowar , it works.For Hammerfall it don't and that's why i think that they need a new direction.

I really liked Crimson Thunder but this album pretty much sucks. It lacks any kind of creative energy. A lot of riffs sound straight off Crimson Thunder.

I have never liked anything I have heard by Hammerfall ever. I agree with the cheesy part. It almost hurts me to listen to them and somewhat makes me embarrassed for metal after hearing them. The same goes for Dream Evil! Ironically I did like Cans solo album quite a bit. Much different than Hammerfall but still 100% metal. Hammerfall should pursue that direction if they ever want to be taken seriously...........

We seem to have some haters in here today. What's up with that? I just finished listening to the new hammerfall album and i cant understand how you can say it is bad. It's great.
I didnt like Renegade much, but Crimson Thunder was much better, maybe 1 or 2 average tracks, but the new one is just as good if not better. Blood Bound could be their best song they've ever done, it's awesome.
With the covers, its great to see metal covers like that. Remember what kind of stuff they write about, the covers show that. Same with Manowar, they do good covers as well. Its all fantasy, dragons, warriors, what other cover could you possibly have? I will agree that Dream Evil is cheesy, their lyrics just get worse, no wonder Gus G left, it was just to cheesy for him to handle. But, although cheesy, they do make some damn good rockin' tunes.

Come on, i wanna see some good messages about the new hammerfall. It is not bad at all, eveyone's tastes are different. Where are all the Hammerfall fans??

I got Glory to the brave, Legacy of kings, Renegade and Crimson Thunder and I think they matured by time, except Crimson Thunder which was a step backward. If Fury of the Willd would have been made in the 80s by Iron Maiden it would have been a classic along with Trooper and Aces High. This song is the best Hammerfall ever made, I can't understand that you don't all agree on that!!? Hearts on Fire was by far the most monotonous and boring song the band ever made, so I hadn't too much expectations on their first single "Blood Bound" which is a very great tune though commercial. Yes, the 13 minute Knights of the 21st centrury is indeed quite a borefest and "the prophecy aaaaaaaargghh" is the most LAME and ridicolous part I ever heard in any song. If the last track would been as good as Glory to the brave, I would have scored this album almost 10 points higher, but it's not...

85/10

This band is SO ordinary, they bore me to tears. I simply do not get the hype. Save yourself the trouble and pick up the Rage catelogue instead.

Well I dont really see where Trooper of Steel is coming from. I thought Renegade was way better than Crimson Thunder, subsequently I also thought that Renegade was far inferior to Legacy of Kings. The new album.....well lets just say its their crappiest release to date. If you can handle all the cheese and boring riffs than thats fine....I gu\ess it may even be better for those people since they wont have to look very hard for metal they like.....and they wont have to think to hard when theyre listening to that crap. So cheers, you've found a way to circumnavigate thinking.

Renegade is easily Hammerfall's poorest album. Apart from templars of steel, renegade and a legend reborn, the rest of the album is bland and uninspired.
Crimson Thunder is much better than Renegade. With awesome tracks like riders of the storm, the title track, the unforgiving blade, trailblazers & on the edge of honour.
Chapter 5 takes the best from crimson thunder and improves it even more. Granted the knights of the 21st century isnt a good song, the rest of the album just kicks ass. Great riffs, vocals, everything. It's the best Hammerfall can do.
Who says we have to think when listening to metal bands? Sure some metal bands have 'deep' lyrics where they actually mean something. But Hammerfall is not one of those bands. It's straight up power fantasy metal.
If people like what they hear, they'll like the band, if they dont, they dont. I like Hammerfall's music. If people think it's cheesy, thats fine, they obviously dont like that type of metal.
Some people choose lyrics over the music, some choose music over lyrics, everyone has different tastes.

I think Crimson Thunder was their best album by far, so I'm curious how their last album is. Trailblazers and On the Edge of Honour are some of the coolest songs Hammerfall have written It's good to hear that they have continued the same style from Crimson Thunder:)

Hammerfall was great in 1997, but now there's just too much competition and the scene has passed them by. Not the first band its happened to, won't be the last.

Fury Of The Wild...Same riff as.....
2 Minutes to Midnight-Maiden
Stand Up And Shout-Dio
Power And The Glory-Saxon
Flash Rockin' Man-Accept
Swords And Tequila- Riot

Am I forgetting any?