Hammerfall

Renegade is clearly the most mature, well-written offering to date by Swedish power metallers Hammerfall. The record is also a lot heavier, musically, and shows more maturity in the songs' choruses. Whereas the band's group vocals came across a little cheesy in the past, this time around the arrangements have been well thought out, leading to a more harmonised vocal attack that is much more pleasant to listen to. Produced by renowned hard rock producer Michael Wagner, this disc is chock full of power-driven melodies and insightful lyrics. They haven't reinvented the wheel or anything, but Hammerfall has stayed true to their original vision of producing high-quality true metal and have managed to improve upon their original vision without losing the way.