Hammer Of The North

The year 2010 turned out to be a big one in terms of music appealing to my taste and here is another release that's right up my alley. Although Hammer Of The North is the 5th album this band has released it's actually the only one I've heard at this time, and what I know of them is purely based on what I've been able to read on the internet of late (and that isn't much). The trio from Sweden consists of "JB" (Janne Christoffersson) on guitar & vocals, "Fox" on bass and "Seb" on drums, and just like their names and album cover their music is no frills, basic old school metal type stuff. Opinions out there seem united in saying that these guys have moved away from their Doom Metal origins and if that's true, I'm glad they have. Influences that can be heard on this album and therefore stylistic comparisons that can be made here include Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, but more predominantly Black Sabbath. In fact this really is the type of stuff that Ozzy should still be recording today.

Grand Magus don't reinvent the wheel at all with this album, but that is the real beauty of it. It harks back to the day where the riff ruled, and it would have been a huge album had it been released in 1980 or thereabouts. JB can sing (no cookie monster here), he can also let out a Halfordesque scream now and then too, and his guitar solos are good without being flashy. But this album is all about the riffs. They are huge. Nothing is brilliant or ground breaking, but it's just a great album of the kind of melodic metal I grew up listening to and loving. My mate who put me on to this said "Break out your bong and dungeons & dragons set Wisey". Now I wouldn't agree with the first part of that statement but the second part has some merit, as the lyrics for this album seem generally to be based loosely around Viking, fighting type stuff; you know what I mean... that's right, real metal lyrics!

As far as negatives go, one could be forgiven for saying that after you've heard a few of the songs on this album it all sounds pretty much the same (notice I said "could" which doesn't mean I "would") but I think that's a good thing because it means no bad songs.
For me the best songs are:

- The opener "I The Jury" which has a sound that speaks a little 80's Iron Maiden to me.
- The title track (check out the YouTube video), that oozes Ozzy era Sabbath.
- "Black Sails" which again has huge riffs and Black Sabbath all over it.
- A song that speaks to me in Judas Priest called "At Midnight They'll Get Wise" (I've been locking the doors and keeping an eye out, but haven't seen anyone yet and I think I'm ready for `em, whoever they effin' are)
- "The Lord Of Lies". I can hear Ozzy singing this one and it has a great guitar break/solo with a timing change.

Other good songs of note include "Savage Tales" which sounds like a real blend of all three legendary metal bands previously mentioned, and the album closer "Ravens Guide Our Way" which has a Dio sound all over it and a guitar solo that when it starts reminds me of some Metallica song, the name of which escapes me as I write this.

So yeah it's nothing brilliant or mind blowing, it's very old school metal and thus very, very Wisey. It's probably really a 4 star album but I quite dig it so I originally gave it 5. But take the emotion out and look objectively and it is a 4, so I've now rated it accordingly. Makes me wanna break out my denim jacket though, I tell ya's!

This album picks up right where Iron Will left off, only JB's lead guitar playing is up a few notches. JB's guitar tone is very reminiscent of the 70's & he isn't flashy, just very tasteful in what he does...ala Blackmore or Schenker. I do sense a few recycled riffs here & there but nothing that plagiaristic to be upsetting as there are no real clunkers.
The songwriting is the relatively the same, excellent all around for the most part and fortunately the album is a longer album as I had hoped for. Some key tunes would be I the Jury, At Midnight They'll Be Wise & the title song.
In the end just not quite as catchy as Iron Will but still better than a lot of other things I have suffered thru this year.

I've been listening to Grand Magus for a few years now right after their second album was released I think and I always thought that they had the potencial to deliver something way better and faster than their previous records... and this is it: an all around good solid metal album, fast, mid, great vocals and what a difference with the new drummer.