Hammerfall, Elvenking // Fuzz Club, Athens, Greece // 13.12.2015
Sunday 13th of December, the night when the templars of Swedish Steel returned! HAMMERFALL, the heavy/power legends, loved by many heavy/power fanatics in Greece since that gig of 1997 with Gamma Ray. Ironically enough, we’ve never seen them playing again ever since, everything always got in the way. But that day had finally come, in a jam packed Fuzz Club reaching a boiling point.
But let’s take things from the start, the special guests of that great night were the Folk/Power metallers ELVENKING. They managed to warm up the audience for good, giving free lessons on how to be entertaining towards your audience, without exaggerating. Especially that frontman of theirs, was simply amazing. The audience had probably the best response I could ever expect towards a support act from the greek audience.
And now it’s the moment of truth: were those 18 years worth the wait? “Hector’s Hymn”, “Any Means Necessary” and “Renegade” played back to back to prove that statement truest than Heavy metal itself! Moshpits, crowdsurfs, chanting and an overwhelming wave of energy from the audience to the band and vice versa!
We also heard songs off “Glory To The Brave” (the title heartfelt track that brought many people to tears, “Child Of The Damned” (Warlord Cover), “Hammerfall”) “Legacy Of Kings” (“Heeding The Call”, “Let The Hammer Fall”), “Renegade” (“Templars Of Steel”), “Crimson Thunder” (“Hearts On Fire” the writers’ favorite and closing track of the set!), “Chapter V: Unbent, Unbowed, Unbroken” (“Bloodbound”, another personal favorite for crowdsurf!), “Threshold” (the title track), the “Last Man Standing” single, “400 Meter Medley” and “(R)evolution” (“Live Life Loud”, “Bushido”).
HAMMERFALL themselves seemed absolutely blown away by the passionate response to both classic and newer material. The band among other stuff made a few gimmicks about themselves on stage while introducing the band like turning off the lights while Joacim was talking and such.
That’s a way for a band to actually entertaining its audience. Sixteen songs of pure Swedish Heavy metal, the one that made them so loved over the years. And let me tell you this: no one left that venue without a big smile on his/her face! Regardless of how much bad commentary they’ve received over the years for not being “true enough” (yeah, you should just sell 10 copies of a single 7″ to be true, I keep forgetting), that night they were truest than many bands in their genre, giving it everything they had for 90-100 full minutes.
And these words come from a man who was never a fanatic of theirs to begin with. We have to see Hammerfall sooner than in another 18 years, we will see them sooner, as they’re working on a new album for 2016!! Cheers to everybody who contributed to that great night and till next time…LET THE FUCKIN HAMMER FALL!
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Check C.Alossi Photography for more photos.