Band:	HammerFall
Album:	Legacy Of Kings
Release date:	September 1998

01. Heeding The Call
02. Legacy Of Kings
03. Let The Hammer Fall
04. Dreamland
05. Remember Yesterday
06. At The End Of The Rainbow
07. Back To Back [Pretty Maids cover]
08. Stronger Than All
09. Warriors Of Faith
10. The Fallen One


With 1998's 'Legacy Of Kings', Hammerfall brought absolutely nothing new to the large and intimidating table of Heavy Metal. Still, this is a great album and it deserves some respect. This is far from a master-work, mind you, but it is Hammerfall's best so far. If they could write another one like this again (the only other that came close after was Crimson Thunder, in my opinion) then I just might have to get back into this band.

I think just about my favorite part of the album is the beginning of 'Heeding The Call'. The drums sound then the guitars kick in and blow your mind. It is absolutely great. Within one minute of listening I knew this was going to be a very good metal release. The guitars have great distortion and chunk. They are well played, and the arrangements are just fine. The only thing that annoyed me was the vocalist, as he sounded a little too high and sissy sounding for me, but after hearing the album at least three times I grew used to it and now I enjoy it.

Highlights on the album for me include 'Heeding The Call', the title track, 'Let The Hammer Fall', 'Remember Yesterday', 'Back To Back', and the soft album closer, 'The Fallen One'. I would have actually liked it if the latter was in the middle of the album and a heavier track was chosen to close, but hey, that's just me.

Again, there isn't anything very new or stand-out about this album. Its just a very good, guitar-crunchy Power Metal album that some people should look into. It's great fun.