No Sacrifice, No Victory

Hammerfall

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 24, 2009)
• Original Release Date: March 24, 2009
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Nuclear Blast America
• ASIN: B001PRSOXC
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #82,326 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

2009 release, the Metal band's seventh studio album and first with guitarist Pontus Norgren (The Poodles). No Sacrifice, No Victory includes a cover version of The Knack's pop classic "My Sharona". With traditional and Power Metal making a comeback in these parts, it's no wonder they have chosen to return for yet another U.S. tour this fall. 11 tracks.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not the best from these metal gods, but pretty solid..., March 25, 2009

By	Johnny "Bloody Popcorn" (VA) - See all my reviews

Hammerfall's first four albums were nothing short of amazing, reaching their apex with "Crimson Thunder". The next two studio albums after that were okay, but nothing special--a few stand-out tracks here and there and a lot of filler.

When I initially heard the first single from this new HF record, "By Any Means Necessary", I thought, this record will be a return to form for the boys. Well, it's not really, but it is better than "Chapter V" and "Threshold".

The album starts out with the aforementioned single, so it's a strong beginning. The second song, "Life it Now", is one of the two weakest tracks. The next couple of songs are filler-ish, but not too bad. The track five, "Between Two Worlds", is the other weaker track on the album (it is their obligatory mid-album power ballad, but nowhere near as wonderful as "Dreams Come True" and "Always Will Be").

Then, starting with track six, the album gets going. Tracks six through ten are all excellent Hammerfall rockers that live up to their first four albums.

Finally, track eleven--the cover. On first listen, I thought their version of "My Sharona" was one of their more uninspired covers, but after a few listens it has really grown on me. They really Hammerfall-ify it, adding backing-vocally "HEYS!" instead of "whoas", along with plenty of soloing. Sounds pretty epic, actually.

So if you are new to Hammerfall, you could do worse with this album, but I would recommend starting from the beginning of their discog, with "Glory to the Brave".

If you are a returning metallion, this record won't be album-of-the-year, but you might like it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars I guess I'm just really losing interest in the genre, June 20, 2009

By	John. N (Big Run, PA USA) - See all my reviews

Unlike other recent releases from the usual suspects of the power metal genre, I honestly think there is a decent to good album here. It's just that with Threshold, I had this feeling the "epic" sound the band was obviously heading towards with the reinforced background vocals was going to become a bit too enriched for my tastes. A month or two later purchasing the album, "No Sacrifice, No Victory" has failed to sink in or make an impact and pretty much hits that nail on the head as far as my above fears are concerned. So, I'm not going to say it's bad or crap, more than any HammerFall album before it, I honestly wouldn't suggest buying this one blind as it's no mere step/upgrade from the last album. If this was the case, I'm sure I could have eased into it rather than feeling rejected due to my changing/expanding tastes.

4.0 out of 5 stars Metal is in their veins!, June 2, 2009

By	P. Cowell "Gordy P" - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

I don't know how this band continues to produce albums at such a high level. Another awesome release from Gods of Metal! It's not their best CD by any means and hearing them play "My Sharona" is hysterical (all though that was probably not their intent), but the rest is very solid.

Hammerfall has not missed a beat since the departure of Elmgren and Magnus. Jens Johanson is a guest on two songs (by far the greatest keyboardist of all time) If you don't own No Sacrifice, buy it, songs like Legion are worth the price alone!