Band:	Hazy Hamlet
Album:	Forging Metal
Style:	Heavy metal
Release date:	April 25, 2009
A review by:	Thryce

01. The Beginning Of The End - Part 1
02. The Beginning Of The End - Part 2
03. Black Masquerade
04. Metal Revolution
05. Field Of Crosses
06. Funeral For A Viking
07. Chrome Heart
08. Chariot Of Thor
09. Forging Metal
10. The Faces Of Illusion

Special thanks to the late Mr. Don LaFontaine for doing the following voiceover:

"In a world... where chaos reigns within a metal scene suffering from brutal modernization... comes an album... so powerful and true that even the hardened 80's metalhead feels a shiver down his spine when the first epic riff hits..."

"In a time... where everything but classic heavy metal is king... and mankind gets polluted by commercialized metal garbage more than ever... metal... is not really what it seems anymore..."

"Now... one band... has the power to change that... This summer... vintage is the most dominant emotion... Hazy Hamlet... starring in... Forging... Metal..."

"They are... a true metal band... with a mission... A band who will CHANGE the very... ah, forget it."


This time around I was chosen worthy enough to get Forging Metal on my plate. Forging Metal is the well-prepared debut of Hazy "Proud To Be Loud" Hamlet from Brazil. I say well-prepared because it took the band four years of work to complete this particular release. If you know Forging Metal was recorded and produced in a fully independent way, and if you take into account Hazy Hamlet try to achieve a level of professionalism as high as possible - or so they say themselves - you begin to understand why it took the guys four whole years. Moreover, this quest for professionalism in complete independence is something the band seems to be really proud of. But - here we go - it seems the band has also embarked on another quest. A quest to be more classic and heavy than classic heavy metal.

Here's where it gets thorny: this album is just breathing traditional heavy metal with a punch - so hard that it gets suffocating. This devoted desire to be honest, mighty and true as fuck is just too far-fetched. You see, there's only one danger in going back to the very roots of heavy metal: ridiculing it. I mean, who's going to argue about that after reading the attention notice on the band's MySpace? Nobody, that's who.

Seriously, read it.

Musicwise the album has his moments though. I'll be the first to admit that Hazy Hamlet do know how to play good metal. They're just a bit carried away in how to bring it. As a result, the level of reduplication is sky-rocketing. I'm telling you, if one would throw a big block of cheese at Hazy Hamlet during some live gig (supporting Manowar I bet), for sure it will circle back in grated cheese. Sharp but downright cheesy - no doubt about that. And apparently the band knows. In fact they already countered my main criticism on beforehand by stating on the press sheet they don't have any pretension at all to coming across as an innovative band. Nerves of steel.

Granted, this review might seem a little harsh. Then again, you don't need a team of explosive experts to see that portraying Forging Metal as a heavy metal bomb would be an obvious mistake. Let's be honest, this album has indeed some major flaws. To name just one, as a result of the deliberate choice for taking the path of unoriginality, the album gets plagued by constant repetition. Despite the clear metal with balls attitude, the record leaves a certain castrated and dull impression - due to a lack of ambition I guess. What I disliked the most on Forging Metal was not that it was trapped in clichés (not even that). It wasn't even the band's self-righteous attitude to enforce the rock 'n roll vibe on everything remotely living. Instead it was the shortcoming of assertiveness that bugged me the most. And a lack of a healthy dose of assertiveness, dear reader, is something totally different than a lack of innovativeness. But don't let my hunger for inventiveness spoil your appetite for old school flavored heavy metal. This is just something you have to see for yourself to believe it. Just don't say you weren't warned.


PS: Don't bother calling me a whimp and/or a poser. I know.