By "Milwaukee"Tom Elke
Hammerfall was formed in Gothenberg, Sweden in 1993. Their new album, “Dominion” is their 11th album and was released August 16, 2019 on Napalm Records.
The album has 12 Tracks, one of them is a 40 second Intro piece, one being a slower/softer song, and one being a full-fledged ballad. But, this album’s sound is immense, a great job on the production of this music - the drum sound is fantastic, so all you drum enthusiasts will enjoy this album.
Of the remaining songs, most are mid to up-tempo paced. There are some excellent lead guitar parts, from time to time Oscar Dronjak and Pontus Norgren trading leads in the same song, it’s really good stuff. Joacim Cans continues to put in a very good vocal performance, he can still hit and hold the high notes. The rhythm section of Fredrik Larsson and David Wallin is rock solid. They lay down the foundation very well. And David Wallin has really seemed to come into his own on this record, his 2nd with the band. It’s a great drum performance. Several of the songs have the “Gang” background vocals, they sound great. Lyrically, it’s pretty consistent with the other Hammerfall albums, it’s who they are.
Hammerfall is a steadily, very good band. This album is in that same category… steadily very good. It’s better than 2011’s Infected, It’s on the same level as 2014’s Evolution – and probably a bit better actually, and it’s better than 2016’s Built To Last.
Rating: 7.50 out of 10. (Would have been an 8 without that ballad, sorry)
Track List
01. Never Forgive, Never Forget 02. Dominion 03. Testify 04. One Against the World 05. (We Make) Sweden Rock 06. Second to One 07. Scars of a Generation 08. Dead by Dawn 09. Battleworn 10. Bloodline 11. Chain of Command 12. And Yet I Smile
The Band:
Oscar Dronjak – Guitars
Joacim Cans - Vocals
Fredrik Larsson – Bass
Pontus Norgren – Guitars
David Wallin – Drums
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