Hammerfall – Infected (2011)

After the disappointing “No Sacrifice, No Victory”, Hammerfall returns to the basics and delivers a very powerful and effective Heavy Metal release with “Infected”. Featuring great vocal melodies and catchy song structures, the band might have a shot at best Heavy Metal album for 2011 with this release.

With pounding riffs and a very simple structure, “Patient Zero” opens the album and delivers a very effective first punch. Joacim Cans vocals are the highlight of the song (and the album), but the catchy chorus sections and the guitar acrobatics nicely round out a very powerful opener for this release and give a taste of what’s to come.

Continuing the onslaught of Heavy Metal anthems, we have “Bang your Head” with its powerful riffs, “One More Time” with its interesting tempo changes, “The Outlaw” with the guitar wizardry of Oscar Dronjak and Pontus Norgren, and “Immortalized” with the traditional Hammerfall multi-vocal sections. If you want something a bit different, we have the ballad “Send Me a Sign”, and the epic “Redemption”, our favorite song of this release.

The rest of the songs are very good but nothing really special, and here is where the minor issue with this album lies: while most songs are very good, some of them are very similar and they get dull. Contrary to Accept’s “Blood of the Nation”, where all songs hit the spot just right, “Infected” gets a bit tiresome after a while. This is not saying the album is bad, but rather a bit too long.

If you are looking for a good Heavy Metal album, you should definitely check “Infected”. While most of the album is very good, you might want to take a break in the middle or skip a few songs for a better impression. Hammerfall has returned with a very powerful album featuring brilliant Heavy Metal songs.

Release: June 7th, 2011

Country: Sweden