Hammerfall Live Report

Well it was election night but you know what metallers are like - they don't really give a toss when there's metal to be played and heard! Haven't been in the Electric Ballroom for a while and it's quite a nice cavernous venue truth be told with plenty of room to move roam around soaking up the pre-gig atmosphere.

First up was some band called Tribe who were from the North as I found out later from a chap I was talking to. They played regular bog standard mid paced heavy metal with rather average vocals I'm afraid. Not completely offensive but when you lack tunes which stick in the head like the two main bands on show, well you aren't going to win too many friends are you now.

Next up was the awesomely brilliant Dream Evil. These guys are just fun as hell live. The sound was very clear but a little quiet which I didn't mind actually as normally we get blasted with the wall of sound approach but this time ear plugs were not necessary at all. This band are just great at what they do, no doubt about it, and in Niclas they have a plain awesome singer in their ranks. Musically they play a tad heavier and slower than their counterparts in hammerfall but no less catchy. They started the show with Immortal off the new album with the choral parts sounding totally immense. Hit after hit followed with the best moments for me being The Book of Heavy Metal and Bang Your Head from the new CD. They played for roughly 45 minutes which was a little short for me but still they were damn great and you just can't go wrong with da Evil if you're after a fun heavy metal time with tunes galore.

Soon enough the stage was ready and Joacim and co took to the stage and burst straight into the pounder Punish and Enslave from their latest CD which is now over a year old. In fact it's not long since I saw Hammerfall so the show was more or less a repeat of that one however they seemed to be slightly better tonight if anything. Joacim was in good voice, Oscar and Pontus were on top form on the guitars and the bass and drums were solid as you would expect. The set consisted of the cliches of true metal that you would expect. Three way synchronized guitar riffing and head banging, gang vocals, double bass drums and more wooooahhh woooahhhhs than you can shake a stick at! My favourite song of the night were all the songs from the mighty Legacy of Kings album that got an airing. Heeding the Call was awesome as usual as was Let The Hammer Fall. The crowd was lapping it up all day and night as well and everyone had big shit eating grins draped across their faces. Hammerfall are seasoned pros at this power metal game now and it's not hard to see why at all. An enjoyable and fun night of pure melodic heavy metal!