Leading a mid/late-90s European power metal revolution, alongside the likes of Rhapsody, Firewind, Primal Fear and Nightwish, Hammerfall were the most visible of this triumphant cohort, emerging just as the leading lights of 80s classic metal were fading to a low wattage. Back then, one-time trailblazers like Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Manowar, Dio and Accept were floundering in increasingly shallow pools, unsure how to react to the decade’s hostile environment, when the fashion police were coming for our leather trousers, gatefold vinyl and patched denim.
In those draconian times, when even Germany’s Rock Hard magazine was declaring heavy metal dead, the release of Hammerfall’s giddily thrilling Glory To The Brave debut felt not unlike the arrival of a saviour king on a rescue mission. The mission: to inject some youthful energy and defiant pride into the embattled and scattershot trad metal landscape, and secure a glorious future for studded leather, heroic high notes and songs about slaying dragons.
