ALBUM REVIEW: König Und Kaiser – Hammer King
Since forming in 2015 HAMMER KING have been nothing if not productive. The quartet has graced stages across Europe and return in 2024 with their sixth studio album König Und Kaiser. Translated into English the title means King And Emperor and the record finds the power metal collective again paying homage to the mighty Hammer King. The end result is a mix of stunning riffs, towering choruses, and some ideas that work better in theory than execution.
Opening salvo Hailed By The Hammer immediately sets the tone and shows the listener what they can expect for the rest of the record – both good and bad. The track flies by at a thundering pace with the vocals from Titan Fox V hitting like a preacher delivering a sermon. Granted, it’s a sermon against thundering drums and a mind-bending guitar solo. But, it’s a sermon all the same. To amp up the religious imagery the backing vocals throughout the chorus almost mirror a church choir.
The Devil Will I Do opens with a skittering riff that launches into a turbo-powered march delivered via double-time drums and a frantic guitar solo. The track is undoubtedly one of the album’s highlights and forms the first part of a cracking one-two punch with title track König Und Kaiser quickly following. Power metal sometimes has a slightly unfair reputation for being too clean and too polished, but the band makes a mockery of that stereotype with a brilliantly gritty central riff.
However, things hit a road bump with Future King. If the previous track pushed back at stereotypes, here, the band launch headlong into them. The Bruce Dickinson-esque vocals through the verses sound overstretched, while the chorus could easily be lifted from the mid-1980s. The song’s only saving grace is a truly spectacular guitar solo that sees Gino Wilde go balls to the wall to try and lift it from mediocrity.
The central problem with König Und Kaiser is that the band have found a formula that works for them, and they’re determined to never deviate from it. While that can result in some great moments, songs can quickly get lost as there isn’t enough to differentiate them from what came before. This point is thrown into sharp focus with Kingdom Of Hammers And Kings. The track sees the band drop the tempo and up the Gothic church atmosphere. Although still powerful, Titan Fox V (mostly) dials back his vocals, allowing the rest of the song space to breathe. The result is a track that sounds huge and epic, without engulfing the listener like a heavy metal tornado.
War Hammer is back to full throttle with the classic metal staple, the air raid siren, acting as a call to arms. This track and Divided We Shall Fall are exactly what fans have come to expect from HAMMER KING. That will either act as a riff-crafted comfort blanket or induce an almighty eye-roll. However, the band do launch into a somewhat bizarre tangent with Kings Of Arabia. The track is Arabian Nights meets European power metal and proves these two things should have remained strangers. The Middle Eastern-sounding synths that dip in and out are too on the nose, jarring against the rest of the song which is just standard HAMMER KING fare. It’s a strange artistic choice, as is the occasional wailing seemingly thrown in at random.
Thankfully, the track is just a brief excursion, and the band quickly return to familiar ground. I Want Chaos is a beautiful slice of hard-hitting simplicity. It’s comfortably the shortest track on the album, with an all-action guitar solo delivering on the song’s title. Proceedings come to a close with the sprawling Gates Of Atlantia. Here, the band bring together all the different sounds on the album and throw them into one gargantuan track. It’s truly an epic with strings and delicate vocals set against monster riffs and pounding drums. The first half hits harder than a Monday morning hangover, but the softer second portion soothes like the perfect cup of tea.
The high points on König Und Kaiser are incredibly high, but they can’t cancel out the negatives. Stretches of the album are too formulaic, while Kings Of Arabia will have looked a much better idea on paper. That said, long-time fans will find moments to enjoy, especially with The Devil Will I Do and Kingdom Of Hammers And Kings. But unfortunately, there aren’t enough of those moments to take the album to the next level.
Rating: 6/10
König und Kaiser is set for release on March 22nd via Napalm Records.
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