Hammerfall

Renegade

Yuck!

Review Score:

(4/10)
After their much praised debut, Glory to the Brave, and their excellent sophomore offering, Legacy of Kings, Hammerfall has completely missed the mark with their latest release, Renegade.

This CD is just plain awful, from start to finish.

Let's start with the lyrics. While lyrics have never been Hammerfall's strength, the lyrics on Renegade read as if a 12-year-old wrote them. Rarely can these guys get through an entire track without using the words metal, steel, or Templars.

Musically, Hammerfall have clearly regressed. The guitar playing of Stefan Elmgren and Oscar Dronjak has taken a giant step backwards. Joacim's vocal, which I loved on the last two releases, are quite simply uninspired on Renegade. And while most people would have assumed that adding Anders Johansson on drums, should have strengthened the band, Hammerfall's music clearly isn't as good without Patrik Rafling.

However, my greatest criticism of this offering is of the songs. They are uninspired, boring, and redundant. Hammerfall have simply rehashed what they did on their previous two releases, but without any flash or intensity.

You would do well to keep this disc out of your collection.

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