Hammerfall Crushes All at Irving Plaza

Swedish power metal act Hammerfall played Irving Plaza last night, blasting the crowd with riffs, solos, and tales of honor and courage.

The small venue was filled with fans of Hammerfall’s overly dramatic style of heavy metal, many rocking Dio and Dragonforce t-shirts and enjoying opening acts Arctic Flame and the absurdist Powerglove, a band which plays heavy metal interpretations of classic childhood fare such as themes from Tetris, Super Mario, and even the Power Rangers.

Hammerfall, however, were the stars of the night, the crowd cheering wildly upon their taking the stage. The five man group launched into their setlist with true metal fervor, vocalist Joacim Cans singing in his distinctly high range as guitarists Oscar Dronjak and Pontus Norgren crunched through massive power chords. Fredrik Larsson and Anders Johansson held down a chugging, thumping low end on bass and drums to a clockwork, headbanging tempo.

With song titles such as Crimson Thunder and The Dragon Lies Bleeding, both the band and audience were aware of the tongue-in-cheek nature of the music, but it just seemed to fuel the enthusiasm inside the venue. Irving's wooden floors shook as fans moshed and jumped up and down, egged on by Cans’ accented but fluently spoken stage banter. The frontman regularly demanded louder and louder cheering, and the crowd sang along on favorites such as Hallowed Be Thy Name (not to be confused with the Iron Maiden song of the same title) and Riders on the Storm (not to be confused with The Doors song of the same title).

The guitarists shone equally, if not more so, as they shredded through wild, explosive solos. Fans raised foam swords that Powerglove had tossed into the crowd earlier, waves of crowdsurfers assaulted the front of the stage, and even the mosh pits slowed down as everyone cheered and played air guitar along to Norgren’s frenetic tapping and long, wailing notes. Especially enjoyable was the anthemic Stronger Than All, the crowd shouting out the eponymous lyrics to the chorus. Watch my video of the song below:

After a brief rest, the band returned to encore with three final songs, including an especially brutal, audience-led Let The Hammer Fall. The final song of the night, of course, was Hearts on Fire (not to be confused with the Rocky IV soundtrack song of the same title), a song recently the focus of major media attention due to the Swedish curling team’s appearance in the music video and last month’s global Olympic (and curling) mania. Read Examiner.com’s Mark Morton’s recent interview with the band here.

Hammerfall is a leading power metal band, and last night’s show proved that it is with good reason. Joacim Cans is not only a fantastic vocalist, but an appealing frontman as well, neatly navigating the fine line of just the right amount of drama and cheesiness. The band’s instrumentalists are almost machine-like in their precision, yet play with an enormous amount of heart. Through and through, Hammerfall takes the classic heavy metal sound, and uppercut punches it up to the next level.

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