Customer Reviews

Hammerheart

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

First and foremost, I must address the fact that I was almost retired from writing reviews for this site. The only thing that stopped me from doing so was this album, plain and simple. It's very important that if a piece of music exists that is, well, this important, then it is your absolute duty as a listener to help make others aware! This album is honestly that good. Those of you that have heard very little of Bathory's work probably know that Bathory was, at first, a black metal project. Their self-titled debut showcased great talent and basically gave birth to the black metal style (shreiking vocals, thundering drums, tremolo guitar picking, etc.). As many have noted, throughout releases Quorothon progressed as a songwriter and eventually took a huge turn in his songwriting. This is most noted with "Blood Fire Death", an album that has been noted as the very first "Viking Metal" album. Though "Blood Fire Death" was epic in its own right, I still feel it had the "black metal" feel that was presented most notably in previously albums. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying "Blood Fire Death" was a black metal album, I'm simply saying that he was still a little early in the transitional period. After "Blood Fire Death" comes "Hammerheart". I can't say enough good things about this album. Most of the vocals are done clean and sound magnificent. I'm not saying that Quorothon is a great singer. As a matter of fact, he's actually a little below average with his range, but the fact remains that he puts so much passion in what he's saying, you'll barely notice the lacking vocals. All instruments play their parts perfectly. I believe that there is only one word that can do justice to the songwriting in this album, that word is epic. Another element that sets this album apart from many many others, past, present and future, is the lyrics. The lyrics are absolutely stunning and are included in the booklet. I could go on and on about how great this album is, but I highly doubt any of you fellow shoppers have the time to read about it. Basically, I'm just going to say that if you're lucky enough to be looking at this page and don't own this album, do yourself a favor and pick it up!

The second in the "Viking trilogy" by legendary Swedish black-metallers Bathory. This album has to be among the most epic recordings ever in the history of metal, encompassing all the grandeur and power of the Viking forefathers and the gods of the Asatru Bathory frontman Quorthon had idolized during this period. Expanding on the themes (both lyrically and musically) established by the previous album, "Blood Fire Death," this album speaks of warriors off to battle, Gods of thunder, and the cold lands of the Nordic mountains...everything a good viking-metal album should have. Most of the songs are six minutes or longer, abundant with brutal guitar riffs, pummeling drums, and Quorthon's screams (which have taken on a cleaner approach, sounding more like singing instead of the glass-gargling screech of previous Bathory albums). He even performs a variety of choruses for background vocals, which adds an eerie and epic effect to the overall music (it's all him, but it sounds like an army of choir singers). The production is a big improvement...still not as good as bigger metal bands, but definitely steps above the first several albums. The one complaint I have about this album is the eighth track, the hidden outro...it's the exact same outro used on "Blood Fire Death." Not having heard "Twilight of the Gods" (the third in the "Viking trilogy"), I don't know if this was done to keep the three albums in a conceptual framework to tie them all together...if so, then it's okay. If not, then it's just redundant. Aside from that, "Hammerheart" is an album to end all viking-metal albums. It is a call to arms, a call to glory, and a call to Valhalla. If you are a fan of epic-sized grand-scale metal, listen ot Bathory's "Hammerheart." You won't be disappointed.

Metal doesn't get any better than this *stunning* tribute to the Northern archetype and the freedom it entails.

From the opening grandeur of 'Shores in Flames' and 'Valhalla', Quorthon turns to a more quotidian, personalised account of Norse existence, with 'Baptised in Fire and Ice' and 'Father to Son' exalting the bonds of blood and nature that tied ancient pagan communities together. The latter has blatently nationalist lyrics, which would probably have moralists expressing 'concern' if released today. But for all the efforts of the vampires of the Guardian (a bourgeois UK paper) to sink their pale teeth into metal, PC will never have any place in this form of music. It's amusing when 'AntiFa' punks try to judge metal by the same standards as their own repressive scene...'Hammerheart' will continue to inspire when such paltry souls have crumbled into dust. These punks will never understand that true nationalism means loving your own, not hating others. And nor will 'genre metallers' (looking for their latest fix of 'brutal technical' or 'tr00 kvlt') find much to interest them in Bathory's later work.

'Hammerheart' stands forever beyond modern dogmas - it lives in the old freedom of the North, which Tolkien called "the free days of old" and which C.S. Lewis described as "a vision of huge, clear spaces hanging above the Atlantic in the endless twilight of Northern summer...remoteness, severity." Quorthon pays tribute to this Northern spirit explicitly on 'Home of Once Brave', but the entire album is saturated in a spirit of pure northernness.

This is Bathory's greatest album, and Quorthon's most priceless legacy. Having created this stunning masterpiece, he can sleep well indeed.

As i listen to this record i am reminded of what true passion is. I first was introduced to Bathory through Blood Fire Death which is a great album with more black metal tones as it was the transition album. I enjoyed it so i quickly got my greedy little hands on this. I knew it was their masterpiece but i figured it would be like Blood Fire Death. Hammerheart blew me away. I was close to tears of it shear beauty and passion. Quorthon sings (no banshee screams or cookie monster coughs to be heard here) like a warrior who is on the brink of battle and does not know whether he will live or die. He is not a great singer in anyway shape or form, but his passion more than makes up for it.
The music is epic and powerful. The guitars push he agression, the bass and drums aplify the power making it feel lager than life. The drums sound like war drums. I have never been as moved by an album like i have with Hammerheart. I recommend this for ANY fan of true metal!
Keep it Heavy!

Actually, all three of his Viking albums are excellent! With Hammerheart we are treated to a wonderful array of acoustic, symphonic, bombastic, and metal delights. What Quorthon did with the Viking metal is immeasurable. To take the heritage and meld it with the various musical elements this album became a tribute to OUR ancestors. If I can use one word to describe this album it would be SINCERE, and the workmanship of the music and the journey this album takes you on is proof of Quorthon's desire to present us with something worth treasuring. With Bathory's prior release: Blood Fire Death, there is more of the old black metal influences, and subsequently after Hammerheart, Twilight of the Gods presents us with more of an overt ambient quality. This is why I recommend to YOU, the reader that you go with Hammerheart first if you're not sure which album to choose. However, if you're like me you'll love each one for it's attributes and get all three. If you don't "get" Viking Metal, you never will, and this music is not for you. If you enjoy black metal influences combined with a cultural/ethnic/Heathen elements you'll enjoy this wonderful album for the rest of your life.

This album is timeless. To me, this is the perfect Viking metal album, bar none. I've always loved Bathory because Quorthon has never been afraid to branch out into different areas musically and lyrically. Being a dedicated fan of Norse mythology, I found this album to be very rewarding as far as the lyrics and themes go. The lyrics are intelligent, especially those on "One rode to Asa bay" in which Quorthon tells a tale of Christianity making it's impact on Scandinavian culture. "Shores in flames" is an excellent first hand account of a Viking raid. I paricularily like the opening two and a half or three minutes in which Quorthon plays some very beautiful guitar lines and shows that he can actually sing very well. It comes off as surprising when compared to the rough, savage vocals found on his earlier works. "Valhalla" is one of my favorite cuts on this album and it contains some very uplifing guitar lines found in the first couple minutes of the song. There is one very good, but unfortunately very short song on this album which only clocks in at 2:30 called "Song to hall up high", and I have to say that the guitar work on this song is perfect and Quorthon's vocals are in fine form here. Despite it's lengh, it is very enjoyable and fits in with the epic mood of this album. The cover art which is known as "A viking's last journey" is also a perfect pick, as it goes along wth the music. I can honestly say after much consideration that this is my favorite Viking metal album and I highly recommend this work of art to anyone who likes their music epic and big sounding.

Like the title says, this is THE viking metal album. If you have even the slightest interest in viking metal, Hammerheart is an absolute must have. Bathory began the creation of this distinct and wonderful breed of metal with Blood Fire Death in 1988. Two years later, they absolutely defined the genre with Hammerheart. This is the first full viking metal album ever released, and probably still the greatest. From epic songwriting to skilled musicianship to wonderful atmosphere to perhaps the most passionate vocals in the history of extreme metal, this album has it all. I've owned it for years, and the impact of Hammerheart has not lessened. If anything I am even more moved as time has passed. Now that I've had time to more fully explore the genre I've come to really appreciate how brilliant Bathory (Quorthon, RIP) was, and in the catalog of Bathory's work, Hammerheart stands as the crown jewel.

Well, this is the 27th review and they're all 5 stars, so what are you waiting for? "Hammerheart" is, simply put, one of the greatest metal albums ever recorded (definitely top 20, probably top 10), and that's coming from someone who's heard literally thousands of metal albums, whose list of favorite genres does not include viking metal, and who has been a metal fan for 16 years now. Some claim that "Blood Fire Death" is Bathory's masterpiece and I can understand a black metal purist having that opinion (even I prefer pure black metal over viking metal). Although that is a great album (Bathory's second best), I would consider "Hammerheart" a step up. The music here is also an example of a different musical style than previous releases (this is Bathory?!), so even if you don't care for black metal and its harshness, or even metal in general, that should not keep you from giving this album the chance that it deserves.

"Hammerheart" is essentially where Viking metal begins. Viking metal elements were introduced on "Blood Fire Death", but here is where they finally gel. Make no mistake, this is not a prototype. It's fully formed Viking metal and still the best the genre has to offer. It's all downhill from here (though still sometimes interesting).

It's also where Bathory began to abandon black metal. In earlier times, I had thought of Viking metal as a sub-genre of black metal, but there are a number of bands in the genre that are not closely related to black metal, and I would consider this to be an example. There are traces of black metal, but I would not consider it to be fully formed black metal (many strongly disagree with me, so take that with a grain of salt). For one, the proto-black metal rasps of older Bathory are abandoned in favor of clean vocals. Quorthon is not exactly a technically gifted singer, but his vocals are still interesting and fitting. What he lacks in finesse, he makes up in inspiration and intensity. The guitars are a bit slower than before, but more pounding with a strong power metal influence and a slight Sabbath influence. The drumming and guitars work together more than ever before. The guitars make the drumming more intense and vice versa. Everything is constructed to sound as epic as possible, even the shorter songs.

The album's most obvious highlights are its bookends "Shores in Flames" and "One Rode to Asa Bay". The former is an epic of unbelievable proportions, and it's the first time I truly recognized Bathory's drummer as talented. It works from a slow buildup, but once it explodes, it is unrelenting but still dynamic. Anyone who claims that true musical development only exists in classical music (where, unlike popular music, it is the standard not the exception) should listen to this artful masterpiece. The other major highlight is "One Rode to Asa Bay". It is a bit more repetitive and doesn't explode like "Shores in Flames", but it drips with emotion and is truly entrancing. Like Burzum, Bathory has shown that repetition, when handled properly and mixed with some subtle dynamics, can have an even greater impact than overt dynamics. Although those are the two tracks that stick with me the most, there is not weak spot to be found on the album. "Baptised in Fire and Ice" would be my third favorite track with its powerful chorus that truly transports one to the era that the band is singing about.

That brings me to the lyrics, which are outstanding. Bathory has improved its lyrics over the years. In earlier days, particularly their first album, they struggled with English and tackled some rather trite topics. Here, they are flat-out poetic. They style is not typical of prose, or even "typical" songs, but of poetry. For a singer who once had difficulties with English, it is nice to note that he has finally mastered the intricacies of the unique grammatical conventions and subtleties of poetry which follows different rules than prose, but has avoided the pretentions common to amateur poetry. The lyrics tell a story of the Vikings and their culture and religion, and on the last song, the subsequent forced conversion of Scandinavia to Christianity. However, it's not a preachy album, but a clear narrative spoken from a voice (not the singer's) who truly loves and believes in the culture and religion of pre-Christian Scandinavia. Even though there are religious references and the narrative voice is a voice of a true believer, the album is really a homage to a culture. The album shows that one does not have believe in the pagan gods to attain an appreciation for the culture and religion of the Vikings, even if the culture, like all cultures, has its faults. Despite the use of this narrative voice, there is some objectivity to it. It's not an Odinist vs. Christian album, and it doesn't sugarcoat anything. Viking culture is glorified, but "Shores in Flames" makes the brutality of the Vikings clear. Even the aforementioned "One Rode to Asa Bay" is not an anti-Christian song, even though it describes the crimes of Christian missionaries in Scandinavia. It is more of a song of mourning, a mourning for the loss of a beautiful, if somewhat violent, culture to a foreign and similarly violent culture. The lyrics have an even greater impact due to the fact that they perfectly fit the music. It does not feel like the lyrics were fitted to the music or the music was fitted to the lyrics. They sound like they naturally came into being as a unified vision.

I wish I could go into more technical details, but I'm not a serious musician, only a serious listener without much formal music education. Even if I had the ability to dissect the album in great detail, I doubt I could ever do it justice. If you find it interesting, move on to "Twilight of the Gods". It's not *quite* as good, but it is still excellent and very similar in style to this masterwork. First though, purchase this album. I cannot give this beautiful album enough praise, and I suspect you will do the same.

This album is a nearly perfect metal record. It is thunderous, haunting, furious. If you are a fan of powerful metal sound then you cannot pass this one up. I think it is even better than Metallica's Master of Puppets. The theme centers around Norse concepts but that doesn't detract at all from the content of the songs, all of which are very good, important contributions to this record. Buy this one immediately if you don't already have it!

Many fans consider "Hammerheart" to be Bathory's opus. That reputation was the basis I bought this classic piece of metal history on, and I was definitely not disappointed. And when you hear the epics "Hammerheart" has to offer, you won't be either.

"Hammerheart" shows you the best it has right from the word go, when you hear a beautiful yet simplistic acoustic intro played over the sound of rushing waves, appealing to your most pure and primal sense of beauty, before launching into a titanic wall of slow, anthemic, powerful guitar riffs. And it doesn't let up for the whole album. The basic musical concept is simple. Simple, yet sublimely well-written guitar and drum lines dominate, synchronising perfectly. The slow pace and huge sound make for an epic, anthemic feel, and yet at the same time manages to be richly atmospheric (but not in the same sense as a doom metal album; while doom metal is dense and suffocating, this has an open, even soaring feel). Guitar solos are present, but don't expect any face-melters; they move at the same pace as the rest of the music, solely present to promote the atmosphere.

Quorthon's vocals also hit just the right mark. Fairly throaty screams - although not nearly the harsh rasp of his earlier albums - dominate for the most part, delivered with a passion which could almost be called unrivaled. His voice surges with emotion on tracks like "One Rode To Asa Bay," and delves into the deepest reaches of your soul. He also surprisingly demonstrates his capacity for very good clean vocals on "Song To Hall Up High," a very beautiful track despite being only two and a half minutes long.

So, all of the usual factors do their jobs well. But "Hammerheart"'s brilliance does not end there. One of the greatest aspects of this album is the use of Viking choirs, performing epic backing vocals which intertwine perfectly with Quorthon's yells. The inately human emotional imact of the acoustic guitar is not to be underestimated, and even the use of backing sound effects - such as the sounds of a rural Viking village at the start of "Father To Son" - really helps to enrich the atmosphere. These techniques may be unconventional in a heavy metal album, but the role they play in making "Hammerheart" the epic that it is is not to be denied.

As usual, the one gripe is with the production. While the slightly rough guitar sound can help to emphasise the organic leanings of "Hammerheart," the guitar solos sit too low in the mix. And - surprise, surprise - the bass is inaudible. Ah well, you can't have everything, eh?

Even so, this album is a must. It's not just for heavy metal fans, this is a genuinely classic piece of music. Every man, woman and child the world over should own a copy, and so should you. Click the buy button, or the Vikings will come for you!