After having seen our favourite musical style bashed down by thrashers who should test their skills wielding chainsaws and/or
other loud implement of destruction...after having 'heard' (??)
abominable crossovers with hip-hop and other sorts of filthy sources of noise, after having our ears maimed by death metal
vocalists (?) sounding like grizzly bears with troath carcinomas
FINALLY
The Gods smiled upon us bereaved followers of melodic power and brought us these fine viking raiders from sweden that singlehandedly resurrected good old melodic metal, re-created a 'scene' WITHOUT any kind of buck-greedy major behind them
and kickstarted Europe toward a bright new future of musical greatness unheard of since the days of Mozart and Beethoven!
Too enthusiastic you say?
OK!
Just imagine how I felt in the late 90s when the 'greatest'
musical novelty were ice-t and body count when I grabbed the FIRST HammerFall CD after having witnessed a metal festival in
Italy attended by (o joy! o joy!!) some 5,000 people...

THESE GUYS SOUNDED LIKE THEY HAVE BEEN NURSED AT THE SAME TEAT THAT NOURISHED JOEY DiMAIO (of immortal ManOwaR fame!!!!!).

I ADORE HammerFall and I admit it, call me unfair.

THEY RESURRECTED THE MUSIC I LOVE
I OWE THEM MUCH MORE THAN I COULD EVER RETURN TO THEM!
So this is my paycheck to them...apart from having BOUGHT (not downloaded...no no) EVERY SINGLE ALBUM they released.

This one came forth in late 1998 and I had bought it in Nov. even before Xmas as I could not wait for my presents to come in.

In July 1999 they went to Italy and I rushed to Milan to see them!

Their rendition of 'At the end of the Rainbow' sent nearly 10,000 people to the sky!

The Templars will survive, ALWAYS!

Do your ears a favour and buy it!

The guys need support from TRUE believers!!!!!!!

Paolo, Genoa.

First thoughts: HUGE power drumming, great, classic riffing at nice speeds, and Helloween-like vocals (Kiske), melodies and harmonizing.

Ok, review over. Just kidding. It'd be selling Hammerfall short to just categorize them as another Helloween knockoff, though to be sure the influence is right smack dab in the middle of things. This was my first Hammerfall listen, and it's their second album. It was pretty much what I expected, which is to say, a very good example of what a modern power metal band should sound like.

The songwriting follows the K.I.S.S. school of thought. And no, I don't mean Knights in Satan's Service (ha ha). I'm talking Keep It Simple Stupid. Write some lyrics about battle and glory and be sure to throw some references to steel and metal in there. Add good speedy riffing and lightspeed soloing, stir in some chanting anthemic choruses, top off with big double-bass drumming and voila! Power metal!

"Heeding the Call" and "Legacy of Kings" are a great twofer to open things off, employing all the items above. "Let the Hammer Fall" brings Manowar to mind and the album has its finest moment with "Dreamland," giving the listener the all-important chance to sing along (just be careful, EXTREMELY silly lyrics ahead). "Remember Yesterday" is actually pretty solid for a by-the-numbers power ballad, and Hammerfall is smart enough to follow this up with two rockers in a row, "At the End of the Rainbow" and "Back to Back." Great melodies and hummable power sounds here. "Stronger Than All" is another of my favorite tracks on the disc, proving that sometimes simple IS better. In fact, the awesome drumming and killer riff in this song had my head banging and feet tapping more than any other here. I will say that "The Fallen One" as an album closer is LAME, so I prefer to pretend that "Warriors of Faith," with its great speedy guitarwork is the real closer.

All in all, a solid, if not original or spectacular, album that will please all followers of power metal. Heck, if you're not a fan, this might make you one. Get this.

HammerFall is obviously influenced by Helloween and Iron Maiden (and they sound a little bit like Riot too). If you told me this album was released in 1988 as opposed to 1998, I'd beleive you. This is powermetal at its best - definitely some of the most impressive, well-written stuff I've heard in a long time. HammerFall's style is a diamond in the rough of today's industrial/grundgy/modern rock scene of sheer garbage. If you think heavy metal died around 1991, HammerFall just brought it back to life in Legacy Of Kings - stuff like this is a lost art nowadays.

Whoever wrote the online review for this record with the subject "typical pop-weak metal" obviously isn't true to metal and should be burned by a thousand raging dragons.

Hammerfall, coming off a strong debut album "Glory to the Brave," released "Legacy of Kings" to conquer metal fans' hearts. This newest album is a valuable addition to the true metal scene. Heaps of heavy riffs written and compiled well together, accompanied by mesmerizing vocals, this record is even stronger than "Glory to the Brave". If you want to make a present to a metal fan, believe me. You cannot go wrong with this title.

Not enough can be said about this record. There's not even a song as bad as "above average," though the best in my opinion are "Dreamland" "AT the End of the Rainbow" and "Warriors of Faith." If you are at all into power metal, you probably already have this disc, but if not, you will find hours of enjoyment in "Legacy of Kings." The only thing that stops me from giving this record five stars is that the music is not extremely sophisticated. IT's not unsophisticated by any means, but the songwriting pales next to that of Blind Guardian or Rhapsody. The lyrics, also are somewhat contrived and repetetive (templars, steel, mighty, warriors, etc.) but when was the last time you bought a power metal CD because you heard it had good lyrics?