HAMMERFALL in Moscow, Tochka club

Before describing the concert itself, allow me a brief, slightly lyrical introduction. The first half of the 1990s was an extraordinarily difficult period for metal music in general and for power metal in particular. A revival of the style became observable from 1994–1995 onward. In that period BLIND GUARDIAN and GAMMA RAY released what are arguably their finest works; RAGE were not far behind; GRAVE DIGGER had resumed activity; the arrival of vocalist Timo Kotipelto elevated STRATOVARIUS to an entirely new level; debut recordings by new bands were emerging — EDGUY in Germany, RHAPSODY in Italy — yet it was truly the arrival of HAMMERFALL's first two albums in 1997–98 that enabled this genre to assert itself fully once more. One will encounter many objections here: that the band brought nothing new whatsoever, that their music is fairly repetitive and in some respects even primitive, that the guitar parts are quite simple, that Joacim Cans's voice is clearly not the strongest among clean-voiced vocalists — and so on. But the fact remains: it was on the wave of HAMMERFALL's popularity that interest in power metal bands surged once more.

The band was, after all, founded by Oscar Dronjak and Jesper Strömblad, with Mikael Stanne as its first vocalist. Ultimately everyone benefited from the fact that in 1996 Stanne was unable to participate in the musical competition alongside HAMMERFALL and was replaced by Joacim Cans. Stanne and Strömblad left the collective; a year earlier Niklas Sundin had also departed. Strömblad focused on his main band IN FLAMES, while Sundin and Stanne concentrated on DARK TRANQUILLITY. The phrase "Gothenburg metal" is associated to this day specifically with these collectives, while also becoming generic for the Swedish variety of melodic death metal and applied to many current bands that have never lived in Gothenburg or Sweden at all. HAMMERFALL, though they might have claimed Gothenburg affiliation by place of residence, chose an entirely different path — mid-tempo heavy-power metal with a marked JUDAS PRIEST influence, backing vocals from all band members except the drummer, and minimal use of keyboards. In fact the band has never had a dedicated keyboardist; the sparse keyboard parts are recorded by guest players or by band members themselves. On the band's most recent album, No Sacrifice, No Victory, keyboards on two songs were contributed by Jens Johansson — known for his work with STRATOVARIUS and also the younger brother of HAMMERFALL drummer Anders. Also on this album one song features a guitar solo by Stefan Elmgren, who left the band in 2008 to focus on piloting (an unavoidable analogy with Bruce Dickinson, who has combined flying and singing for over 15 years).

The band's first moscow concert took place almost exactly three years ago — on 7 September 2007 at this same Tochka club — when the collective was concluding their tour in support of their sixth album, Threshold. The seventh album, No Sacrifice, No Victory, was released on 20 February 2009; six days later the first concert in its support took place. At this point in the tour HAMMERFALL had performed in 19 European countries, given 7 concerts in Canada and 20 in the USA, appeared at dozens of festivals, and even performed in India. The 4 September 2010 moscow show was the hundred-and-first — and likely penultimate — of the tour. According to a news item on the official website, a new studio release is expected in May 2011.

The concert was scheduled for 20:00; there were no support acts, and the band took the stage with virtually no delay at 20:15, spending an hour and a half onstage. The attendance was approximately the same as last time — to be objective, the number of dedicated long-term HAMMERFALL listeners is not enormous. Such bands have a fairly dynamic audience, always including a good proportion of teenagers, though there were also people at the concert who had first heard the band on cassettes in the late 1990s. In any case, as last time, the main focus was on the new album, from which "Punish And Enslave," "Hallowed Be My Name" (honestly fairly pedestrian compositions), the excellent instrumental "Something For The Ages," and the most popular track from the latest disc, "Any Means Necessary," all featured. Unfortunately the fairly decent ballad from the latest disc, "Between Two Worlds" — which had been played at most concerts on this tour — was not performed. From the previous album only one track sounded: "Rebel Inside"; among other mid-paced compositions was "Last Man Standing" from the single released in September 2007. From the 2005 album, naturally, "Blood Bound" featured — one of the band's signature compositions — and "Secrets" also returned to the setlist; HAMMERFALL had been opening concerts with it during the Chapter V tour.

Since the release of the fourth album Crimson Thunder in 2002, three songs have been firmly embedded in the setlists — occasionally one may be absent from shorter festival appearances, but in solo shows all three are invariably present: "Riders Of The Storm," "Crimson Thunder," and of course "Hearts On Fire," which has reliably closed the band's performances for many years. The moscow concert on 4 September was no exception. Another permanent fixture: "Renegade" from the album of the same name, a decade old. From the second disc, naturally, "Let The Hammer Fall" and "Heeding The Call" — strongly reminiscent of MANOWAR — featured, and this time "Stronger Than All" returned to the programme — a compositionally interesting vocal piece that had barely been performed since 2001. Finally, from the first album came "The Dragon Lies Bleeding," the song through which a great many people first discovered the band — it's track one on the debut album Glory To The Brave, which the band had released without prior demo recordings, singles, or EPs.

The objective weakness of the setlist was the absence of ballads, and above all of "Glory To The Brave." On this tour the band had played concerts featuring 18–19 songs, which is quite an optimal number; with seven albums, an hour and a half is simply too little — especially when fans of the collective would happily listen indefinitely. That said, criticism does come their way: at the concert a memorable exchange occurred. When someone in the audience was asked if they liked the latest album, one viewer gave Joacim a brief summary: "Fuck it." Joacim was unfazed — he turned to security and... asked them to bring this person a beer. In the end Joacim gave him the beer himself. Before that he also noted that the album is actually perfectly fine, and specifically thanked those who had bought a licensed copy rather than downloaded it.

Brief summary: the concert was of a high standard. Comparing it to three years ago, the present one differed for the better in all respects — possibly because the band's returning bassist Fredrik has now fully reintegrated, whereas last time he had only just come back. Objectively speaking, there is nothing serious to fault. I have never been a HAMMERFALL fan; my attitude toward this collective leans toward the negative, actually — yet I cannot deny the objective facts. They can perform to a very high standard, and this concert fully demonstrated that capability. They continue to occupy a special place in heavy-power metal, since they will forever hold the status of one of the bands that proved in the second half of the 1990s that the genre was not dead.

PS: Those who cannot find Oscar Dronjak in the photos — note that he has simply gone blonde.

Setlist: