Tuesday, November 22, 2011

493 - Crimson Thunder - HammerFall - 2002




This represents the last high quality HammerFall album. I suppose that Threshold was decent, but not really top 500 material. Clearly, the writing was on the wall when I first heard this album and at the time, we could see this was the end of the road for HammerFall. But there is no doubt that they had enough left in them for this album to be a worthy entry into the Power Metal Hall of Fame.

I especially like Riders of the Storm, Crimson Thunder and Trailblazers, but there are no bad songs here. Granted the album is not as consistent as Renegade and certainly doesn't have any all time classics like Legacy of Kings, but it is still a good listen.

Crimson Thunder was the first "new" HammerFall album I heard since I didn't discover this band until late 2000, just after the release of Renegade. It is easy then to see why this record was a disappointment at the time. But with nine years of hindsight, this album can take it's rightful place, certainly below the first three HammerFall records on the list. It lands here at number 493.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have to disagree with you on this one. I think Threshold is a better album. Crimson Thunder has some real crap on it, like "Hearts On Fire," "Dreams Come True," and "Angel Of Mercy." That's my opinion anyway.

Clark H. said...

I like listening to Hearts on Fire in the car. I open my window so everyone can see how cool I am.