I Want Out

Sometimes a truly consequential album doesn't break brand new stylistic ground, nor does it necessarily even consist of any new material by a band, but manages to be such by simply making a statement. Being among the more overt stylistic throwbacks to count itself among the millennial power metal revival acts, Hammerfall would naturally be a star candidate for this specific mode of a compelling work, though most might still be given pause at the notion of a single featuring a cover song as its A-side being a release of note. However, given the context of the late 1990s, the tail-end of the worst decade for any sort of traditionally-geared metal band and a veritable cesspool of faux metal and pop music rubbish unto itself, a statement of sheer defiance is just the sort that is called for. I Want Out was originally penned as an anthem of rebellion against arbitrary authority, but in the hands of Hammerfall and with the power visual of their armor-clad mascot smashing down a wall to a rainbow-toting horizon, it becomes a more specific act of rebellion against musical mediocrity.

Naturally any good cover will contain a unique stamp from the performing band in order to justify itself, but Hammerfall goes quite a bit further than simply making the song their own. Tapping the guest vocal services of the song's author Kai Hansen himself, this version presents a highly engaging duet format to the song, contrasting Joacim Cans' squeaky clean tenor voice with Hansen's shrieking, gritty pipes to bring about a fresh perspective to what some had originally dubbed an unsubtle tribute to Gary Moore's "Out In The Fields". Hansen reprises his own guitar solo, and most of the instrumentalists involved play it fairly conservative with their performances, though at the time newcomer bass virtuoso Magnus Rosen spices things up a bit at a few key points. Overall, the chief attraction here is the contrasting vocal performances involved, not to mention the curiosity of some who wondered what this song would have sounded like had Kai continued lead vocal duties on the Keepers albums rather than tapping Michael Kiske for the honor.

Curiously enough, "I Want Out" proves to be the closest thing to a current metal mindset for the late 1990s, as the two accompanying songs turn the clock back even further into metal's primeval period. Though an original song penned for their 98' sophomore album Legacy Of Kings, "At The End Of The Rainbow" is probably one of the most overt nods to Black Sabbath's "Heaven And Hell" to ever be penned. Their interpretation of the glorious slow-paced march with the bass at the fore of said Sabbath classic is a bit more stripped down and omits the interlude and tempo changes for a more compact, fist-raising anthem, yet the results are almost equally as effective and a cut above most attempts at this particular mold of song. The cover of Rainbow's "Man On The Silver Mountain" is interpreted in more of an up tempo and heavier fashion that mirrors the manner that Dio would revisit the song during the mid-80s onward, yet simultaneously Cans' cleaner cut vocal approach manages to give the song a bit more of a mid-70s vibe than any rendition Dio did after parting ways with Blackmore.

In the coming months this album will hit the grand old age of 20 years old, and it is a poignant period for the author of this review as it also marks around the same amount of time that he was first exposed to the revival that was brewing in Europe at the time. To any who were around that time and had even a slight memory of Helloween introducing their novel synthesis of melodic heavy metal with a speed metal gloss, it was an exciting time, marked heavily by the collective efforts of many bands across multiple countries, many of them finding Kai Hansen, Piet Seilck or some other noteworthy figure connected to Helloween to some degree there to lend their support. It was also a time when MTV and rock radio still held sway over most of the American public, thus the added bonus of a rather somber yet triumphant music video for this band's ode to the departed and debut album title song "Glory To The Brave" for anyone who had a decent computer. In a time where the internet has afforded all the opportunity to take the past struggles of metal bands to get their music out for granted, this American metal head often finds himself coming back to these songs to remember where the revolution first began to be televised.

...So if this is the best that they have done in my opinion, then why such a low score you may ask.

Simple. This is summerized in one phrase. It was recorded by Hammerfall.

I purchased this disc several years ago prior to truly becoming aquinted with the band based solely on the the strength of the fact that this is an E.P. based around a cover version of one of my all time favored Helloween songs, namely "I Want Out" and the fact that it was supported by a cover version of a better liked Rainbow track, I figured I couldn't go wrong by buying this.

I was wrong. Sandwiched between these two covers was an original tune sporting the same crisp production as the two covers, but lacking in any intensity or charm. Just a slow bland ballad. This would be all well and good if the two cover tracks excelled and blew me away.

Which of course they did not do. In my opinion, a cover should either be a faithful remake of the original, played for fun as a tribute to the original artist, or a reinvention of a song into something completely new. Hammerfall took the former path on this one, yet something seems to be missing. I Want Out, while not being outright bad, just lacks the power that one should associate with a genre titled power metal. It sounds competent, but does not match the original in any way shape or form. Beside this, it will always be over shadowed by the remake that Sonata Arctica would do a few years later.

The Rainbow cover is a bit better, thinkening the guitars a bit more from the original and speeding it up slightly. Its very listenable, but suffers from what I believe to be Hammerfall's biggest downfall, namely the vocals of mr. Cans. This man is about on par with Justin Timberlake to me when it comes to quaility of vocals, he could never hope to live up what Kiske or Dio accomplished on either of the original songs.

So the reason that I even gave this release such a high score is for the quality of the original two covers, the involvment of Kai Hansen in the making of this disc and for the sheer hillarity of the video included on the disc. The waterfall shots are worth it alone.

That is one thing I will give Hammerfall, they really know how to make videos that are so terrible that you can laugh for hours at them.

This EP first caught my eye because of the title, ‘I Want Out.’ Everyone is familiar with the classic Helloween song, and since Helloween are one of my favorite bands and Hammerfall weren’t bad either, I decided to check it out.

This EP contains three songs, which is the first downfall of this release. Three songs in my opinion belong on a CD-single or a demo… With an EP I’m expecting at least 4 songs, but I guess the video sort of makes up for this lack.

The first song on here is ‘I Want Out,’ obviously the cover of Helloween. I was pleasantly surprised to see Kai Hansen sang duet with Joacim Cans here, and I think it was a great tribute from Hammerfall to the godfathers of power metal, Helloween. And although I love Kai Hansen’s singing, and his work with Gamma Ray is amazing, I strongly prefer Michael Kiske’s vocals for this particular song.

The other two songs are ‘At The End Of The Rainbow’ and ‘Man On The Silver Mountain.’ The first is a Hammerfall original, while the latter is the cover of their Rainbow song. Again, like on ‘I Want Out,’ I have to admit the original is indeed better.

The video is the bonus on this EP, and it is decent, but nothing to watch over and over. A nice plus, but that’s as far as it goes. Overall, it’s an alright release that is good for a Hammerfall collector, but on both the covers you will always find yourself wishing for the original and not listening to Hammerfall’s versions much. Their original song, ‘At The End Of The Rainbow’ can be found on Hammerfall’s CD ‘Legacy Of Kings’ as well, so I’d recommend getting that album instead and unless you’re a complete Hammerfall collector, forget about this one.

-Marcin C.

After becoming a fan of the band recently, I have discovered a lot of great stuff from them including this EP. Now, I saw the title and I thought they were covering Helloween and I was right, however I did not know that Kai Hansen would also appear on this track. It took me the majority of the song to realise the Kai was singing duet with Hammerfall's singer. I would think that you would appreciate this song more if you heard the original by Helloween which I am afraid to say is the better of these versions.

The next track "At The End Of The Rainbow" is taken from Hammerfall's album "The Legacy Of Kings" It is a fairly decent power metal track with a cool bass line and nice guitar intro. Oh and don't get me started on the chorus, very catchy. Everything seems to be well done on this track, I have not heard "The Legacy Of Kings" as of yet but if the songs are of similar quality then you must buy it(I know I will)

"Man On The Silver Mountain" is of course a cover of the Rainbow smash hit. Of course, no one can vocally match Ronnie James Dio but I must confess, Hammerfall's singer came incredibly close. This version is a faster and more up-beat then the original which can be viewed as a good or a bad thing, depends on your taste. Hammerfall again didn't dissapoint with this one, it definatly gets my approval.

Overall this is a decent EP, it could have done with one or more tracks or something as this really could be a single but none the less it is a great EP full of excellent covers and an excellent Hammerfall song.

Hammerfall's EP, I Want Out, contains 3 tracks for your cd player and a bonus music video to watch on your computer.
The title track is of course a cover of Helloween's classic "I want out". The band plays well and Kai Hansen sings the song as sort of a duet with Joacim Cans who sings the song decent but in no way is a Michael Kiske who sang this song brilliantly back in his days with Helloween. A decent cover but you'll tend to return to the original.
At the end of the rainbow is a track taken from Hammerfall's "Legacy of Kings" album. It starts out with a nice bass line and is overall an above average power metal track with a fairly likeable melody line.
Best track here is the cover of Rainbow's "Man on the silver mountain" which Hammerfall plays pretty darn cool actually. It's a lot faster than the original version and Cans voice suits this song pretty fine actually. Fine cover!

The bonus music video is Glory To The Brave, the title track of Hammerfall's first album. What I have heard the song was written as a tribute to a friend who had died, and the video shows that pretty well. The band members stand on a cemetary and look sad and though being nothing truly special, it's a decent music video (Hell, compared to MTV's prime time videos, this is a fucking GREAT video!) for a great song, one of my absolute Hammerfall favourites.

This EP is for the fans of Hammerfall, and dragging in Kai Hansen is a nice way of remembering the roots of power metal.