Hammerfall

HammerFall has got to be one of the best power metal bands out there these days, and Crimson Thunder does nothing to endanger their reputation. The riffs are all there — they sing, wail, harmonise and rock — but this is still incredibly cheesy, mind you, even if it is cheese of the finest quality. You could almost ignore the laughable melodrama if you didn’t understand the lyrics, but hearing lines like, "Hearts on fire, hearts on fire! Burning, burning with desire!” for the first time can be a bit overwhelming. And of course, it’s hard to ever forget such a refrain, so it’s guaranteed to haunt you later. (Perhaps that’s a part of why HammerFall is so hard to resist.) But never mind the cheese, listen to Crimson Thunder enough and you begin to immerse yourself in the power metal spirit until you’re playing air guitar and singing right along.