For years the only good metal has been black and death metal. Finally there is reason to listen to rejoice. This is Classic metal reborn. Definatly worth 5 stars

I've long come to understand that originality has never been Hammerfall's strong side. To this day, their first album, Glory to the Brave, and perhaps their second one, Legacy of Kings, are the only ones I consider essential listenings, and only for power metal fans that is. Nothing wrong with not being original or groundbreaking, I love many bands that repeat themselves, but with Hammerfall, I just can't get over the 'cheese' factor.

That said, Chapter V: Unbent, Unbowed, Unbroken (kinda cheesy title, even by Hammerfall standards, no?) is an okay album, and that's saying a lot. The music is exactly like what you'd expect to hear from them. Lots of melodic guitar lines with fast, double drum bass, high pitched vocals (sometimes too high though) and the typical victorious lyrics to round things up. As the band's previous studio release, Crimson Thunder, this one was also produced by Charlie Bauerfeind (Blind Guardian) and has a similar overall vibe. One exception is that the guitar work tends to go back to their Glory to the Brave minus the speed; that's a shame because it's the speed on Glory what made that disc so powerful compared to their other releases.

Most of the songs are quite midtempo and rarely see the 5 minute mark. Vocalist Joacim Cans proved to me that he can make a killer singer with his solo disc and I still stand by the opinion that his solo album is a better effort than all Hammerfall discs combined. However, on this album, Cans tends to sing higher than his range allows and the outcome isn't all that impressive. The vocals in the beginning of "Fury of the Wild", especially in the verses, sung over childishly weak riffs is abysmal. I also can't stand some of the horrid backup vocals on tunes like "Hammer of Justice" and "Born to Rule", which are otherwise quite solid compositions. I especially like these pieces cause Cans delivers the lyrics in a relatively more aggressive manner, rather than the happy-go generic Euro power tunes. As always, there is the mandatory ballad "Never, Ever" that, though good, doesn't do much for me. Hammerfall ballads have never appealed to me for some reason, but I find the chorus of this song particularly cheesy. The melancholy continues on the little instrumental piece "Imperial", which is just acoustic guitars that go slightly over two minutes.

The highlight of the album is the opening track "Secrets"; it's one of the fastest and most energetic tracks with tasty lead guitar work and memorable melodies. This album would have been more to my liking if they'd continued to write such songs that focus on heavy riffs, outstanding vocals, gripping choruses and somewhat more interesting drumming. I don't understand why they didn't make more use of Anders Johansson's abilities, since he has already proven everyone what a monster player he is. We still get to hear a little drum fury on "The Templar Flame", but it's not enough. I also highly anticipated the 12-minute 'epic', "Knights of the 21st Century", because of Venom frontman Cronos' contribution. Unfortunately I was terribly disappointed that the song is perhaps even slower than most of the midtempo tunes. Moreover, this is by no means a duet as some have claimed. Cans and Cronos hardly sing anything together. The song begins with groans from Cronos and after about three minutes Cans begins to sing. Somewhere in the middle, there's a brief melody they share and then it goes back to Cans doing more Euro power metal vocals, except less passionately. At around the 10-minute mark, we are offered a two minute silence before Cronos makes his way into the track one last time whispering something, and the album is over.

Hammerfall fans will dig Chapter V: Unbent, Unbowed, Unbroken just fine. Also, I believe most power metal fans will find something that appeals to them. However, for those of you expecting something different, heavier, more energetic or simply a return to Glory to the Brave, you may want to look elsewhere.

Having come late to the Templars of HammerFall, I did not experience the exhilaration with which many people met "Glory to the Brave" and "Legacy of Kings", but that may make me a more objective observer, and one who doesn't suffer from HammerFall burnout. I notice that I'm in the minority, but I find "Crimson Thunder" and "Chapter V" the strongest HammerFall albums.

Firstly, Joacim Cans' vocal performance is in my view his best so far. The production may help as well, as the reverb levels seem to be set perfect, and his voice doesn't sound thin like on "Renegade". There is more power behind his performance and this makes all the difference in portraying a mighty feel for the album.

The rest of the production is also impeccable, but they had mostly attained that by "Crimson Thunder".

Songwriting wise, I have heard criticisms of them ranging from being too stagnant to too cheesy; but these are traits that can be defined conversely as consistent and fantastical. I would rather have the cheesiness of metal warriors than of the 'best part of waking up' vocals of Evergrey cheesiness, but I digress.

The opener "Secrets" is a fairly typical Hammerfall song, but is entertaining. The album's strongest moments begin with the second song, "Blood Bound", and continue to the best song on the album "Fury of the Wild". This is an unbelievably catchy tune which you will be singing to yourself for days. This continues to another mighty chorus-driven tune, "Hammer of Justice", which kills.

Weak parts include "Born to Rule" and "The Templar Flame", these are songs that I just don't see the point of.

But "Knights of the 21st Century" is a plodding yet rousing epic; a slow paced rock song with an anthemic, potent chorus. This is a killer song and yes, as everyone knows, it features Cronos. He sounds kind of silly though; especially in the intro. But the verses make up for it because it is a nice novelty to have him guest on this track.

Don't listen to the naysayers, if you like the HammerFall formula of catchy, heavy tunes, in the same approach as Crimson Thunder but with better songwriting, pick this up.

Hammerfall is one of the best modern metal bands around today. Most of the other modern so called "metal" bands are nothing but screaming crap. Hammerfall took the best parts of 80's metal and solidified it together with an updated sound. They have a lot of skill and talent. Their songs are powerful and heavy and yet actually have melody that you can follow. You can hear and understand all the words. But again, they are extremely powerful and heavy. They have a constant Middle Age theme running through all their albums which is what makes them unique. It creates a certain mood and flow that connects all the songs on an album.

Now about rating their albums...all 5 of their albums rock! But the last 4 are better than the first. Their first is good heavy metal, much better than most metal bands today, but the songs did not completely "click" and come together. However, that issue was completely gone by the second album! None of their next 4 albums are better than the other. They all are as good as heavy power metal with melodic vocals can get. With each new album they further develop their style and introduce a few new things. But... and a very important but... each album still sounds like Hammerfall! They remain true to their sound. So here are the ratings:

3.5 Glory to the Brave

5.0 Legacy Of Kings

5.0 Renegade

5.0 Crimson Thunder

5.0 Chapter V: Unbent, Unbowed, Unbroken

they are awesome, this album is awesome, and i basically like all their albums for different reasons, or, not so much reasons, but each album kind of has its own feel, and i'm in the mood for certain songs, but i usually just listen to them all front to back, but as for ultimate favorites from this album, if i had to restrict myself from saying the entire songlist is my favorite, then i would say reasons to buy this are for the songs Bloodbound, Fury of the wild, Hammer of justice, Born to rule, and Knights of the 21st century...

lol, i know thats like half the album, but its hard to select favorites with this band xD

but yeah, if you liked their previous album Crimson thunder, then buy this, and keep buying their CDs.

and if you are new to Hammerfall, this is not too bad of a start either.

though i personally would suggest starting with their first albums Glory to the brave and Legacy of kings, then working your way up through their slight style changes.

but this album is close to the albums before and after it, Crimson thunder and Threshold.

though the end song Knights of the 21st century sets this album apart from all others, because of its epicness, and its not like a catchy little radio friendly single, only people who like long dark songs can get into it, and people who don't... well, press stop on the last track then, but buy the album anyway xD

the song progresses slow at first, but it sort of feels like a changing song as it goes on. the creepy sounding guy is a guest vocalist, the former vocalist of the 80s black metal band Venom... apparently Hammerfall knew a guy who knew him and asked for him to do a song project for the album.

but yeah, in conclusion, this album is awesome, and by just a hair, is probably of their absolute best albums to date, next to Crimson thunder, Legacy of kings, and the new one in 2009 No sacrifice, no victory.