Album Review: Renegade 2.0 by HammerFall (Nuclear Blast Records)

Swedish Power Metal icons, HammerFall, return with their 12th album, Renegade 2.0 and  it’s a special one. Due for release on the 12th of November 2021 via Nuclear Blast Records, Renegade 2.0 sees HammerFall travel back in time to 21 years ago. They revisit the time when they travelled to Nashville to record their lauded third album Renegade with legendary producer, Michael Wagner. Having previously recorded their albums in Studio Fredman in Göteborg with Fredrik Nordström. This marked a big and brave step for the band and showcased their ambition.

For this anniversary edition, the band felt that they needed to close the circle and have Fredrik remix the Renegade album to give us his take with Renegade 2.0. The new release also comes with brand new artwork from famous cover artist Andreas Marshall.

HammerFall are still led by founding member Oscar Dronjak on guitars and backing vocals with Joacim Cans on lead vocals. Fredrik Larsson is on the bass, Pontus Norgren is on guitars and backing vocals and David Wallin on drums.

The fact that this is Fredrik Nordström’s mix of Renegade is probably not something that a casual fan is going to be overly bothered about. There is no new music here – there are untold bonuses which I mention further down but really all you can hope for when a classic album is remixed is that the heart and soul of it still remains.

The new mix is also a really good excuse to jump back into Renegade. I haven’t listened to it in a long time and it was nice to get back in touch. For new listeners, I guess it is also a good opportunity to get the album back out there and into people’s news feeds. Maybe pick up some new fans on the way. From the opening riffs and tapping drums of Templars of Steel, the new mix was exactly what was expected and hoped for. The difference is purely in depth of sound and in crispness with no loss of magic.

Technology has moved on a fair but since the original 2000 release so that would have helped but it is essentially the same thing with a more modern sound. You feel the bass rumble a bit deeper, the drums are more easily separated and the guitars soar with a cleaner ring. The vocals and backing vocals ring clearly and everything feels a bit more like a mix of components to create a sound instead of all blended together.

Most importantly though is that the soul of the album is still there. It still has the same heart, the same passion and even still sounds like a traditional metal album. The new mix hadn’t exactly made it sound like an album from 2021. Instead it is more like an album from the 2000’s but from a band who had access to a little bit more advanced technology.

It is very much still HammerFall’s Renegade, just with a little added gloss to ensure it lives on for another 20 years.

Obviously being essentially a remaster, a review of the music on Renegade 2.0 is a pointless task. If you like HammerFall, or are a fan of Power Metal, you have probably heard and enjoyed Renegade. The main part of the new release is a modern sounding, crisper version of the same album and a lot of the glory that comes with Renegade 2.0 comes in it’s additions. For example, there is a second disc that includes the complete original release, Renegade. There are also 6 bonus tracks available including B sides from the original Renegade single and songs from The Templar Renegades Crusade EP.

There is a 3rd disc which is a DVD jam packed with a plethora of HammerFall goodness. 10 + live recordings, video clips, montages and “making of” videos. Essentially Renegade 2.0 is an absolute must have for any die hard HammerFall fan, instantly uplifting your HammerFall collection from good to great.

For fans of HammerFall, for fans of Power Metal and for fans of collecting – Renegade 2.0 is well worth a listen either as a revisit or as a first time listen.

You can preorder Renegade 2.0 in all of it’s different formats at this link.

HammerFall Links

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