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Hammer King's Kingdom of the Hammer King brings me back to the early 2000's and opening some of the first packages of CDs I ordered from Sentinel Steel. One of those contained Hammerfall's Glory to the Brave and I remember hearing the combination of the Traditional Metal I'd grown up with and modern Power Metal and how that convinced me there was still plenty of good Metal in the world.

Fast-forward to 2015 and we have Germany's Hammer King following their Swedish predecessors nearly step-for-step. Clean, powerful vocals, double-kick drums ("We are the Hammer"), mid-paced epics ("Glory to the Hammer") and warrior choruses ("Chancellor of Glory") pay tribute to Glory to the Brave in an obvious but still respectful fashion. Kingdom of the Hammer King isn't directly ripping off the Hammerfall classic and it isn't as strong from a songwriting perspective, it just adheres faithfully to the tried and true formula that album laid down. The copious use of the word "hammer" is the cherry on top.

That said if Glory to the Brave doesn't put the wind in your sails Kingdom of the Hammer King isn't likely to drive your ship to new lands either. If you like music from a simpler time that isn't trying to be something different then it is definitely worth a listen.