Review Summary: Good enough/not.
Hammer King’s album is a great mix of mainstream appeal and aggression. Based on the band name and album cover - you guessed it - it’s a power metal album, but there’s more than just cheese on offer. They bring to mind bands like Blind Guardian and Hammerfall, quite cheesy bands themselves, but unlike contemporaries of said bands, Hammer King’s music is practically free of obnoxious tactics. The singer especially doesn’t put anything too extra on his voice, he lets it be what it is. The album falls in line, and in short, the strength of the music is its natural feel. They play with confidence, and an even keel pace/tone, not surprising for their fifth album.
The instrumentation can be simple at times, but it mostly gets the job done. I said mostly for a reason, because some simplistic riffs are too basic and repetitive to come even close to impressing. One might say the riffs don’t need to impress, and moreover just focus on melodies - that’s where you’re wrong, but thankfully the album still has some dece riffs. Kingdemonium has the most interesting riffs, sounding straight out of a Disturbed album - pretty interesting. The drums are typical, good enough, quite solid, not much else can be said unfortunately.
No, the riffs aren’t the problem here, it’s the lack of surprises; the band have a tendency to repeat choruses over and over, redundantly. The album is exceedingly repetitious, but there’s a little variety with a couple songs over seven minutes long; one is Age of Urizen, the highlight of the album, a song that somehow doesn’t bore. Repetition is all part of power metal, and of course hook building, but there aren’t enough instrumental breaks, dynamics, or anything that surprising to justify listening to the entire album. This is an ordinary power metal album, nothing special in any particular regard. I would’ve loved to hand out more accolades to Hammer King, but even the highs aren’t particularly hypnotizing, just more of the same. I suppose they deserve some credit for managing to get Invisible King’s chorus stuck in my head - good job?
Negativity pushed away, Kingdemonium is a solid entry on the power metal stage. Hammer King know how to bring the cheese of power metal without obnoxiousness. The gang vocals are sometimes tiresome, but aside from that, the album is pleasing on the ears. Their singer not only has the perfect power metal voice, he sounds good, switching between melodic and gruff tones with ease. The album repeats itself, but the songs are catchy and generally don’t overstay their welcome. It’s a completely ordinary album, but that doesn’t make it less effective.
In power metal, it seems perfectly acceptable to just tow the line, and do what everyone else is doing. I’ve heard safe after safe release this year, and I wonder who will dare to be different, implement things not usually found in power metal - in short, be bold. Hammer King are not that type of band, they play tried and true power metal, and out of the box thinking is completely absent. I can’t help but wonder what would become of bands like this if they went against the grain. Unfortunately, I’m going to have to stifle such thoughts for now and accept things how they are. Kingdemonium is an unoriginal album but it is stable and consistent in quality with its classic power metal for modern times.
