"No sacrifice, no victory" CD by HammerFall

by Jürgen Tschamler (19.01.2009) Ok, Hammerfall do polarise. But because of their standing, they can afford it, and after all, the music is what it’s all about. Fortunately, they jettisoned that overly polished sound on their last studio release "Threshold". And, apart from sticking to the recipe they have started on that one, its successor, their new album "No sacrifice, no victory" even tops it (but that’s only my two pennies). It is pretty well known that Oscar & Co. are huge Accept fans – so it’s no surprise that many of the really impressive choruses and many of the partially very anthemic songs are leaning heavily towards that direction. Pumping riffs and the already mentioned hefty choruses go extremely well together, especially on "Punish and enslave" (what a juggernaut!), and the terrific title track "Bring the hammer down". "Legion", heavily spiced with Speed and Melodic Metal, is yet another steamroller, as is the surprising instrumental "Something for the ages". And guess who wields the axe on "One of a kind" – In Flames guitarero Jesper Strömblad (who is also a co-writer of that song). Cool shit. As afters: a pretty well-done cover version of The Knack’s Pop jewel "My sharona". In addition to "Glory to the brave", this would be the second Hammerfall release for The Desert Island…