HammerFall – No Sacrifice, No Victory
Nuclear Blast Records
(4/5)
HammerFall is back with their newest studio release since 2006′s Threshold entitled No Sacrifice, No Victory! With eleven fist pumping Power metal tracks, No Sacrifice, No Victory is yet another great HammerFall album that proves that line-up changes can’t bring this band down. This new album introduces new guitarist Pontus Norgren as the first new guitarist since 1997. Although Stefan Elmgren’s decision to leave the band to focus more on his career as a pilot is a big change for the guitar duo that includes Oscar Dronjak, HammerFall is forging on as Power metal masters!
Continuing on with the album, No Sacrifice, No Victory keeps with HammerFall tradition as far as cover tracks go with Track 11 being “My Sharona” originally by The Knack. Just as any of the previous cover tracks represented on the 2008 compilation release Masterpieces, these guys did a great job with “My Sharona”, making it a very entertaining track to listen to. On top of “My Sharona”, there are a lot of great songs to listen to on this album including “Any Means Necessary” (Track 1), “Punish and Enslave” (Track 3), “Hallowed Be My Name” (Track 6), “No Sacrifice, No Victory” (Title track/Track 8), and “Bring the Hammer Down” (Track 9). Each of these tracks help provide more proof of how amazing this band is musically and the high level of vocal ability Joacim Cans has. Honestly, it’s not hard to see why this band is one of my favorite Power metal bands. Their sound just speaks for itself! All in all, Stefan Elmgren will be missed, but Pontus Norgren is a great replacement and I can’t wait to follow his future in HammerFall! So far, his start is excellent and he helps make No Sacrifice, No Victory an album that should be had by every Power metal fan!
