Hammerforce – ‘Access Denied’ (2013)
Metalism Records
Release Date: 27/03/2013
Running Time: 51:00
Review By Rick Tilley
9/10
THIS REVIEW WAS WRITTEN AND FIRST PUBLISHED IN 2014 ALTHOUGH I HAVE NOW GIVEN THE ALBUM A SCORE OUT OF TEN.
Hammerforce have returned with their sophomore album ‘Access Denied’ and for anyone unfamiliar with their sound and who has to have a genre tag, I have taken it upon myself to give them the title ‘Twisted Power Metal’. Hailing from St. Petersburg in Russia, Hammerforce are one of a handful of bands, I can think of, who are breathing fresh life into the power metal genre and if you crave something a little bit different then these guys come highly recommended!
Why do I call them twisted? Well, they are essentially an extremely good power metal band at heart, and possess all the good elements of that genre in spades. Soaring vocals, powerhouse drumming and bass runs with fantastic guitar work, but…where they stand out from legions of other bands is in the keyboard department. ‘Nikita Merzlyakov’ delivers some quite stunning work. If you can imagine synth work in an almost dance/trance style mixed with classic power metal you’ll find something that really shouldn’t work, or so I keep telling myself, but in actual fact adds an outstanding clash of styles, especially for a huge fan of the genre, like myself.
The album kicks off with ‘I Am I’ and leaves you in no doubt that this is going to be a pretty special listen. Picking out individual tracks is pointless though, because most of them follow a similar pattern, although that doesn’t mean they all sound alike, far from it. There are some great melodies and choruses contained here that will have fans of Dream Theater, Symphony X, Pagan’s Mind and Dragonforce jumping and headbanging for all that they are worth. There are also elements of classic metal bands such as Judas Priest, so anyone who thinks I’ve lost my mind will very definitely know what side of the fence Hammerforce sit on. Fantastically produced, mixed and mastered by Nikita at his own studio, and with artwork and booklet to put much bigger bands to shame, ‘Access Denied’ is nine tracks (plus two bonus cuts sung in Russian) of awesome catchy metal that should really see the ‘Hammerforce’ name spoken by many more people in the coming months. Check out their website, which gives you access to lots of free songs and see what you’ve been missing!
NOTE:
It looks like it has been very quiet on Hammerforce Social Media for quite a while now, which is unfortunate, but I wanted to share the review again because “Access Denied” is such a good album and deserves to be heard.
Rick – November 2017
TRACKLISTING:
01. I Am I
02. Templates For All
03. Wasted
04. Mass Media
05. Fugitive
06. Earth Is On Trial
07. No Place For The Old Men
08. Reflections
09. Access Denied
LINKS:
Reproduced with the kind permission of Brutiful Metal Radio
Disclaimer: This review is solely the property of Richard Tilley and Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to reproduce any part of this review, unless you have the explicit permission of both parties; failure to comply will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.