HAMMERFALL have embarked on their European tour supporting the new album No Sacrifice, No Victory and for this tour the band decided to stop off at the Islington Academy here in the UK and was it one hell of a show!
With some awesome bands in support I got to the venue relatively early to have a few beers (it was a Power Metal show after all) and of course to catch BULLET. Hailing from Sweden, the band arrived with their take on classic Metal and they put on a very good show. For such a young band they had complete control of the stage and the crowd. The sound mix was against them however, vocals you could mostly not hear properly, but they seemed to take this in their stride and looked to be really enjoying themselves. The guitarists were really getting the crowd involved and generally showing off some JUDAS PRIEST style moves and the whole band really appreciated any people in the crowd that were singing along. I think I will try to see these guys when they make a return to the UK as it was a lot of fun and they show a lot of promise; if only they could have played longer!
Next up was the legendary SABATON. They stormed the stage and really gave the London crowd a good show and threatened to give HAMMERFALL a run for their money. The crowd was full of SABATON fans and everyone was singing and enjoying. I have never really been a big fan; the show wasn't going to change this, but they played well. Not much more you could really ask from SABATON, they came on the stage, they played flawlessly and everyone seemed to enjoy it; they got everyone excited for HAMMEFALL at the very least.
HAMMERFALL were up next and they were a band I was looking forward to seeing for quite a few years now. The new album is a brilliant return to form (check out the review on METAL TEMPLE) and I was looking very forward to getting my singing on and finally witnessing the songs I love live from the Power Metal masters. I was not disappointed.
HAMMERFALL played around about half of No Sacrifice, No Victory, which sounded great live, but the main draw was of course the classics. Songs like Renegade and Heeding The Call were sung all around the venue and a big highlight for me was Last Man Standing; a lot of headbanging and fist pumping was put into action.
While cliche with HAMMERFALL, the songs from the Crimson Thunder album really did shine live. A surprise encore of Trailblazers (after Lore of Arcane of course), before the final song Hearts On Fire... well what a superb close to the night. Hearts On Fire is the song that everybody was waiting for and everyone really loved it. The singing was superb, he didn't really attempt all of the high notes, but that is understandable after all of these years. Guitarists were on top form, really getting the crowd going and fully enjoying themselves, every song was note perfect and these lads have got the stuff down to perfection.
The sound mix was perfect, the members of the band loved the crowd response and I think they enjoyed being back in the UK. If you haven't seen HAMMERFALL live and you like Power Metal then you really need to get up off you ass and find wherever this band is playing. Hearts On Fire is the ultimate live song for getting a crowd fired up...what a superb night. My neck is still sore and my arms still tired!
