Legacy of Kings

by

HammerFall

Edit

After having seen our favourite musical style bashed down by thrashers who should test their skills wielding chainsaws and/or

other loud implement of destruction...after having 'heard' (??)

abominable crossovers with hip-hop and other sorts of filthy sources of noise, after having our ears maimed by death metal

vocalists (?) sounding like grizzly bears with troath carcinomas

FINALLY

The Gods smiled upon us bereaved followers of melodic power and brought us these fine viking raiders from sweden that singlehandedly resurrected good old melodic metal, re-created a 'scene' WITHOUT any kind of buck-greedy major behind them

and kickstarted Europe toward a bright new future of musical greatness unheard of since the days of Mozart and Beethoven!

Too enthusiastic you say?

OK!

Just imagine how I felt in the late 90s when the 'greatest'

musical novelty were ice-t and body count when I grabbed the FIRST HammerFall CD after having witnessed a metal festival in

Italy attended by (o joy! o joy!!) some 5,000 people...

THESE GUYS SOUNDED LIKE THEY HAVE BEEN NURSED AT THE SAME TEAT THAT NOURISHED JOEY DiMAIO (of immortal ManOwaR fame!!!!!).

I ADORE HammerFall and I admit it, call me unfair.

THEY RESURRECTED THE MUSIC I LOVE

I OWE THEM MUCH MORE THAN I COULD EVER RETURN TO THEM!

So this is my paycheck to them...apart from having BOUGHT (not downloaded...no no) EVERY SINGLE ALBUM they released.

This one came forth in late 1998 and I had bought it in Nov. even before Xmas as I could not wait for my presents to come in.

In July 1999 they went to Italy and I rushed to Milan to see them!

Their rendition of 'At the end of the Rainbow' sent nearly 10,000 people to the sky!

The Templars will survive, ALWAYS!

Do your ears a favour and buy it!

The guys need support from TRUE believers!!!!!!!

Paolo, Genoa.

I purchased this disc and Blind Guardian's Nightfall... after reading various reviews here (from people who had also gotten Stratovarius, which is what I initially was looking at). I would concur with one of the previous reviews from April 29, 1999 that their influences are Manowar, Helloween, etc.

The songwriting is polished, solid musicianship, nice production. However, their's nothing really that special here aside from that fact that it is coming out 10 years later than the last wave of this style. The lead vocals should have been more powerful and brought forward in the mix for this type of fantasy, medieval power metal. Fancy guitar work is nearly non-existant. After my first listen I was thinking is was a melding of Manowar's Fighting the World and Helloween's Keeper I. I decided to listen to those 2 discs now that I've heard it quite a few times, and for me it doesn't stand up to either. The guitar work and vocals are superior on the others.

Legacy of Kings is no slouch by any means. They certainly have a future. This is a great disc to draw your sword and raise your tankard to and crank it up loud! Good metal to drive to, which is what I got it for. 3.5 stars

FYI, I like the music on Blind Guardian's disc better (much more complex), and I'll rate it 4 stars. However, you can't drive to it very well since you must listen to it.