Stormhammer
Seven Seals

Last time Stormhammer welcomed us to the end with an album that looked really good and if I were richer I would have bought it because of its looks. But as the music wasn’t great it will be one less great artwork that will not be in my vinyl collection. For this new album they haven’t managed as good artwork but they have rethought their musical and conceptual ideas and had some changes in the line up with a new singer and they have ended up a quartet rather than a quintet. So what can we say about this new album then, will it be worth checking out or is it the same as we had before.

They have changed somewhat in terms of music, it is still of the familiar stylings and not really venturing much outside the comfort of the box. Modern power metal is how it can be described; with some thrash influences and a sense of epicness about it. It is a conceptual album about a temple and a vault, something like that. It is more interesting than the previous album in terms of style, more alive so to speak. The production is fairly good, not a standout production but it works and the new vocalist is decent as well. And on the subject of decent, that can also be said for the album’s variation and the playing time is fairly sensible even though they could perhaps have skipped one of the songs to make it slightly shorter.

This is a good album with quite strong songs, a clear step forwards compared with the predecessor. It is a better album but it is probably missing a strong hit song, something that makes you want to return to the album over and over. I think that if you like power metal it is probably an album that will appeal to you, so they have clearly taken a step forwards compared with last time. So it was a better artwork last time and better music this time, it may not be the most memorable album ever but it is good enough to give a couple of spins.

It is great to hear that Stormhammer has decided to move forwards and not stand in the same spot to repeat the same album over and over like so many bands do. Still, they could have ventured more outside the box, dared to make something bolder and that sort of thing. With this album they will not really go down in history as the creators of a timeless classic but they do make a good album that will not be disappointing to the power metal fan that buys it.

HHHHHHH