HammerFall – Infected

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After two very ordinary albums and a poorly received covers album, where HammerFall recycled the formula which made the Crimson Thunder and Chapter V: Unbent, Unbowed, Unbroken such successes, their eighth album at last takes a step back in the right direction. When Patient Zero finally starts after its over-long intro (complete with ‘The Simpsons’ reference), it delivers one of the heaviest songs of HammerFall’s career to date, and clearly signals their intent for Infected. Produced by Sixx:A.M. vocalist James Michael Infected is the heaviest album since Crimson Thunder, and the crispest since Chapter V…, but only four of the album’s eleven songs really show any evolution. Excellent quartet Patient Zero, I Refuse, Immortalized and especially Redemption are the only songs which aren’t standard HammerFall fare. Any album needs a few tracks which have the trademark sound, but not seven out of eleven, and the success of those seven is varied. Bang Your Head is the most clichéd, and possesses the most familiar riff (so will probably be the second single), Dia De Los Muertos would follow exactly the same route if the chorus weren’t in Spanish, and between them and tired ballad Send Me A Sign they comprise the record’s real low point. The remaining four tracks are what HammerFall should be producing as a new album’s nod to their past. The Outlaw, Let’s Get It On, One More Time and 666 – The Enemy Within are fresh takes on the tried and tested style and sound like it, rather than like simple rehashes as the others do. It’s a move towards where they need to be, but they’ve not managed to completely regain their vitality just yet. They’ve shown they still have some new ideas, and that they can still make compelling tracks using their old ideas, they just need a little bit more of each next time to complete the regeneration.

Written by Andy Lye
More: 2011, Albums, Power Metal, Quick.Play Reviews, HammerFall