Review HAMMER KING “Make Metal Royal Again”

Seven longplayers in ten years is a very solid level of productivity achieved by the German metal force, Hammer King. The band hails from Kaiserslautern in the Saarland region. The debut album was launched in 2015, and ten years later, a treat for fans of melodic metal is being offered in the form of “Make Metal Royal Again”.

A drum roll starts the album and the opener “King For a Day”. The song was released as a foretaste of the album and is a strong metal track with catchy melodies. I was immediately reminded of bands like Sabaton and Powerwolf, not only because Peter Sallai did the artwork for “Make Metal Royal Again”, but also because of the similarities in melody and approach. While the melodies, anthemic chorus and metal approach are nothing new, they are performed with passion and dedication. It’s almost impossible not to be captivated by the hooks, and here we must differentiate between the musical approach and the partly goofy clichés used by the band. Songs like the title track are well-crafted metal tracks, while the album title’s innuendo about a destructive political movement is boring at best.

The following “Schlaf Kaiser Schlaf”, with its spoken words by a young kid, is clownish and limits the listener’s perception of the music. Hammer King actually has enough to offer and doesn’t need to rely on imaginary clichés.

Songs such as “For Crown and Kingdom” and the furious “Kneel Before the Throne” are throbbing headbangers that reveal their addictive catchiness from the first listen. The same goes for “Hell Awaits the King”, and the dramatic closer “The Last Kingdom” is no exception to the “Make Metal Royal Again” concept.

Hammer King’s seventh album is at its best when you ignore everything that isn’t connected to the music as the ten songs on the album are great melodic metal tracks that really stand out. Theatrically overloaded and musically rich: that is “Make Metal Royal Again”.