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The first album from the celebrated and hated Gothernburg Heavy Metal rockers. This is plain heavy metal with some power metal influences, and the words "steel" and "metal" are very common words in the lyrics.....The clichés are to be heard very often, but HammerFall, where other bands fail, do it very good and professional. And you can hear that the guys can play and sing. Highlights of the album are: "The Dragon lies Bleeding", "HammerFall", and "Glory to the Brave".
Ranking: 7 / 10
HAMMERFALL
Renegade
The third album, and this was the album that was supposed to take them to the elite. And maybe the managed to do that, I dont know. The video to the title song reach the first place on a Swedish chart, but how the album did sell abroad I do not know.
This sounds......just like before! Maybe the production are a bit bigger (recorded in the States, as that should make any difference..), and the songs are more straight forward.
This is heavy metal for the 80´s...indeed. The cover and the band pictures makes me laugh a bit. Maybe it was cool for 20 years ago. Today....I dont know? But it is the music that counts! And they can for sure make good music, no doubt!
This is heavy metal born in fire and steel......
Ranking: 8 / 10
HATE ETERNAL
King of all Kings
Fast, fast, fast....Hate Eternal are back with a fresh, hate, holocaust-like album. I have only heard some songs from their debut album "Conquering the Throne", and there are no bigger differences between the two albums. Fast and brutal is the common word.
Other death metal bands in the same school as Hate Eternal use to bore me after
a couple of songs. The "hey-we-are-the-fastest-band-in-the-world"
thing are nothing that impress me, and when there are no melody in the songs
I just can't stand a whole album. Okay, some songs are great but not more.....
.....So, what about Hate Eternal? Great! These guys surely knows how to make
death metal. Both fast as hell and with some thoughtful touch's like great solos
and melodies behind the blastbeats.
And another great thing: The album is just a bit over 30 minutes, which is just perfect. Enough of the good....
Ranking: 9 / 10
THE HAUNTED
The Haunted Made Me Do It
When At the Gates laid their instruments down, the Bjöler brothers formed The Haunted with a couple of more guys. Playing thrash/death metal in a mixture between Slayer and At the Gates. The first album was a little weak (as far as I have heard it). But this one is a killer!
Just listen to the Slayer-inspired intro and the following song "Bury you dead".....This is the best release from a Swedish band year 2000. They even won the Best Hardrock Price in Sweden! It is brutal, with no mercy! The production is excellent....so buy this one!
Ranking: 9 / 10
The first Helloween album, or mini album, cuase it´s just contains five songs. On this one, Kai Hansen (the lead guitarist on the later albums) sings, and if you compare his voice with mr. Kiske´s....well, night and day to say the least. But he sings not bad, no, but Kiske is better.
Well, the first half of the album is nothing special at all, but the two last songs ("Victim of Fate" and "Cry for Freedom") are incredible and makes this album worth buying. "Victim of Fate" is very fast with furiuos guitar battles......This was one of my first contacts I ever did with the metal scene, and I was amazed that one could play that fast! But how bands play today, this is more like a danceband song or something.....
Ranking: 7 / 10
HELLOWEEN
Keeper of the Seventh Key part I
The first album of two, and normaly the first one use to be the one which is the best, but in this case it is not normal. "Keeper part II" is a killer compared to this. Yes, there are some very good songs here, but it´s not reaching up the the part II`s standard.
Ranking: 5 / 10
HELLOWEEN
Keeper of the Seventh Key part II
A real classic! With songs like "Dr. Stein", "March of Time" and the title track, and with Kiske´s wonderful voice this is a piece of power metal history.
Ranking: 8 / 10
HIM
Greatest Lovesongs vol. 666
HIM was a band that became familiar to me before the release of the debut album. The song "Your sweet Six Six Six" was released on the Beauty in Darkness compilation. They play Love Metal straight from Helsinki in Finland. Slow and painful with death- romantic lyrics. And with Valo´s excellent voice this is a very nice album. This was for sure something different when it first came (1998), but now I can at least give you the name of three other bands copying HIM......One from the same country.
Ranking: 7 / 10
HIM
Razorblade Romance
The second album is even better. More slower, darker and more love! One of the best releases of 1999 I dare to say! With songs like "Poison Girl", "Gone with the Sin", "Razorblade Kiss" and more, this cannot fail! Valo´s voice are even better on this one.
I am waiting for the next album.....
Ranking: 9 / 10
HIM
Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlights
.....and I was waiting.....but my wishes for an even greater album was torn apart. This album is best described as a mixture between "Razorblade..." and "Greatest Lovsongs...", but everything that those album contained, this one is missing. An album with no peak. Quite boring actually.
When I listened this album through and thinked back on the songs, I couldn´t remember one single song.....except the last one ("Love you like I do"), which nails it self in my mind. And thats the only great one on this album. But I think (or hope) that this album will grow in my mind, cuase after all, HIM is a great band!
Ranking: 5 / 10
HIM
Love Metal
Wonder if the title describes the music or if it is a call to simply love metal?
I think its the first one. Since HIM released their first album "Greatest
Lovesongs vol. 666" the music was described as love metal. That's a pretty
good description of the music and the winning formula for this Finnish band.
I was disappointed on HIM's latest release "Deep Shadows..." and wished
that they would take a step back to the next album. Back to the wonderful "Razorblade
Romance".
So here we are, with HIM anno 2003. My wishes are not entire fulfilled, but
this is good. This is HIM as we want them and as we know them (just dare to
change this concept!). I think the best description is that this album is a
mixture between "Greatest Lovesongs..." and "Razorblade...",
and that's of course not bad at all! Some elements which appears on "Deep
Shadows..." are still to be found, some too boring songs, too slow etc.
But clearly, HIM are back on track again!
One more thing: The opening riffs on "Sweet Pandemonium" really sounds
like Black Sabbath... Love metal!
Ranking: 7 / 10
HOLY MOSES
Disorder of the Order
When a girl are the lead singer of a thrash/death metal band I almost automatic
likes the album (except for such acts a Otep). So is the case of Holy Moses.
A band I never heard of before, but I know that they are not some rookies in
this kind of business.
These Germans performs a brutal thrash/death metal in a old-school way. The
riffs are heavy and technical. But the thing you will remember are ofcourse
the voice....
If we just forget the voice for a moment and look behind it, we discover a technical thrash band that plays ordinary thrash with quite a lot melodies. It is not so original, but Holy Moses wins this years thrash price with the winning concept of a female singer.
Ranking: 7 / 10
I am not a very big fan of this Swedish thrash/black/death band....Peter Tägtgren (he doesn´t need a presentation) is the front man of this band, which have played for about ten years now......
Well, the music isn´t anything I will remember: Ordinary metal with keyboards, nice riffs and melodies, but with no edge. It´s an okay album but something is missing. It´s a boring album simply......
Ranking: 3 / 10
