HAMMERFALL – Infected

Is this a hallucination or what? Where are the knights in shining armor? Where is the falling hammer? Where is the renegade horse rider with flaming eyes? Well, it seems that things have changed. The long running Swedish Heavy/Power Metal act, Hammerfall (the 2011 version) has made some changes to their image. Not so sure how the worldwide Metal scene will accept their rather darkened features, yet not everything is as dark as it may seem to be. Safe to say, you will have to be patient when you take on their new release, Infected.

As this band once said, glory is for the brave. On this release, Hammerfall used their old glories, past experiences, and their wide reputation in order to come up with something more or less innovative and new. Infected, besides being a weird kind of icon in comparison to what this band has released till now, stands as quite an ordinary Heavy Metal album with a sharp look to the ’80s era. With this new effort, Hammerfall tried their best not to repeat themselves, while making their material a little more constructive to a certain level, and you could say they did a good job, because they did. However, their new type of modernism didn’t come through as strong as expected.

In front of the typical Hammerfall riffs that fire sharp arrows made of ’80s’ steel, stands a pretty strong lead guitar line that drives a series of crushing solos. Thanks to the strong abilities of Pontus Norgen, Infected swarms with ’80s-type breakouts that energize even the lesser-rated material. Furthermore, as always, the vocal rhythms are one of the album’s top qualities. Moreover, no one would have performed those lines with such superiority, or with such passion, as Joacim Cans — one of the long-standing stalwarts of the band… however, some of the material turned out to be quite ordinary.

Hammerfall, in their past few albums, haven’t been able to recapture the same flame present in their first two releases. They had some close endeavors, however, like their last album No Sacrifice, No Victory, but nothing more than that. Infected, as their new image, is a very nice release that starts something fresh and more original, although the band still firmly holds onto Metal-themed material such as “Bang Your Head”, “The Outlaw”, “666 – The Enemy Within” — very nice tracks to say the least. “Send Me A Sign”, as the ballad of the release, has that spike of the ballad “Remember Yesterday” from the Legacy Of Kings album. “Let’s Get It On” is an off-shoot of almost everything Hammerfall has ever made, while “Redemption”, the closer, is Hammerfall’s most constructive track. It has so many influences, from AOR to Power Metal, and the performance is divine.

Infected brings a new direction to what the fans of the band should expect for years to come. It’s not just speedy Power Metal with the fantasy banner all over its head, but a reshaped face that bears more mysteries and displays a lot of talent. This release is recommended for both fans of the band and any other Metalheads who appreciate Melodic Metal in the vein of glory.

Tracklist

1. Patient Zero
2. Bang Your Head
3. One More Time
4. The Outlaw
5. Send Me A Sign
6. Dia De Los Muertos
7. I Refuse
8. 666 – The Enemy Within
9. Immortalized
10. Let’s Get It On
11. Redemption

Lineup

Joacim Cans – Vocals
Oscar Dronjak – Guitar
Pontus Norgren – guitar
Fredrik Larsson – Bass
Anders Johansson – Drums