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Hammerfall - One Crimson Night - DVD


*
=Staff's pick

Lore Of The Arcane
Riders Of The Storm
Heeding The Call*
Stone Cold
Hero's Return*
Legacy Of Kings*
Bass Solo
At The End Of The Rainbow*
The Way Of The Warrior*
The Unforgiving Blade
Glory To The Brave
Guitar Solo
Let The Hammer Fall
Renegade
Steel Meets Steel*
Crimson Thunder
Templars Of Steel*
Gold Album Award
Hearts On Fire
Hammerfall*

Extra material:
-On The Road Documentary
-Photo Gallery
-Subtitles


Genre Heavy Metal
Joacim Cans
Vocals
Tracks 20
Oscar Dronjak
Guitar
Runningtime 110 Min.
Stefan Elmgren
Guitar
Label Nuclear Blast
Magnus Rosén
Bass
Release 22 Oct. 2003
Anders Johansson
Drums
Country Sweden
-
Keyboards
Similar artists Helloween, Dream Evil, Accept

Hammerfall kicks ass in their hometown could be another suitable title on this DVD. You can say what you want about Hammerfall, but this is very close to perfection. The picture quality is great and the sound is absolutely perfect. Hammerfall had chosen to record a concert in their hometown Gothenburg in February 2003 and by the looks of it they made a perfect choice. I'm very fortunate to live in the same town as the band and have had the opportunity to see them live many times, and you can always rely on that Hammerfall will perform great concerts, this time was no exception.

The concerts starts when their mascot Hector enters the stage and wields a great hammer against an anvil and with some fireworks the drumset is revealed. The intro to Riders Of The Storm begins and the bandmembers enters the stage one at the time through a door that is located under the drumset, and then it begins. The mighty entrance is followed by a number of great songs, and I really think that they chose to play the right songs. You can always say that they should have played that one and why did they play that one etc., but I feel satisfied with their choice of songs.

Their performance is enhanced by fire and pyrotechnics, some might say that is cliché but it works for me as three torches burns in front of the drumset. The lightning is also very nicely done and the lights together with the fake snowflakes in the ballad Glory To The Brave looks really cool, that actually came out better on the DVD than what it did live.

One thing that I miss is that the crowd sounded much louder in "real life" than what you can hear on the DVD, and another thing that might be seen as negative is that all the talking between the songs is in Swedish and mostly about how great they feel about playing at home and how great the crowd is. If you're not Swedish i guess it can be a bit boring even if it is subtitled to English, but I have no problems with it. Joacim Cans has the ability to talk between the songs and to get the crowd worked up, without being embarrassing and pathetic as many other artists have a tendency to become in the talk between songs.

The live feeling has been captured rather well on disc, you sometimes get the feeling that you actually are there and starts to applaud the band after the songs only to then realise that you're sitting alone in front of the TV-set. It is hard to find another band that seems so dedicated to what they do on stage, you can easily tell that this band feels at home on stage and always does their best in order to give the audience something to remember. Hammerfall mostly manages to create a familiar feeling and that is also something that I think comes out here.

In addition you also get to see Mat Sinner enter the stage in order to present the band with gold albums for Crimson Thunder. Hammerfall had sold over 30.000 copies of Crimson Thunder at that time and for the second time they are awarded with gold albums. In Sweden that is a very good achievement for a metal band, so congratulations Hammerfall even if it was some time ago now.

I could go on much more about this DVD, but if you have the slightest interest in Hammerfall I suggest that you go out and buy a copy as a Christmas gift to yourself, you wont be disappointed. The great concert is captured so perfectly that the power and might of Hammerfall comes crawling out of your TV-set. The templars of metal are holding the banner high once again.

See also review of: Built To Last , (r)Evolution , Infected , No Sacrifice, No Victory , Threshold , Chapter V: Unbent, Unbowed, Unbroken , Crimson Thunder

Production
Vocals
Compositions

10

8

9

 
Summary



9 chalices of 10 - Thomas

Related links:

www.hammerfall.net