With the arrival of their new album ‘Trapped’, Hammer – whose members can also be found playing in Iron Altar and Dog Tired – have upped the ante of extreme, creating a cohesive and sonically mind blowing album.
‘Trapped’ shows a band brimming with unbridled confidence in its songwriting and desire to redefine uncompromising heaviness. It’s an album that bulldozes its way through the speakers – relentless in its colossal riffs and technicality, battering-ram rhythms and clever musical nuances that go way beyond its obvious extremities.
Its seven tracks effortlessly entwine the ferocious complexities of Strapping Young Lad at their most chaotic, with the bludgeoning grind of Pig Destroyer, to create a sound that is distinctly…Hammer.
With themes inspired by the band’s collective interests in gaming and horror, straight out of the gate is the opening track ‘Mea Culpa’ – a blasphemous cacophony of blackened death metal exploring religious penitence and male guilt from the perspective of a priest.
It’s quickly followed by the schlock-horror inspired ‘Trapped In A House With A Maniac’ – a tale of the hunted becoming the hunter.
Elsewhere ‘Gorehound’ emits an Arthur Conan Doyle murder/ mystery story vibe; ‘The Hanged Man’ addresses the Norse story of Odin and the tarot card of the same name; ‘Basilisk’ explores the super AI thought experiments of Roko's Basilisk; while the epic seven minute plus closer ‘Alive’ tells the story of a person crawling through a mass grave of bodies, laid over a gnarly, dirty riff-fest.
Hammer released their eponymous debut a day before the pandemic forced the UK into an enforced lockdown. A collection of tracks written up to the point of release, its impact was somewhat lost in the clusterfuck of worldwide health madness that ensued for the next three years.
Regrouping with James and continuing to write helped the quintet truly refine their sound and deliver their optimum full-force musical blow.
Two standalone singles in 2024 – ‘Accelerator’ and ‘From Beyond’ – introduced the world to the new look Hammer and with the release of ‘Trapped’, 2025 is set to be an important milestone year in the world of metal.
“We are taking a pretty serious swing with ‘Trapped’,” states James with a smile. “We want to state our intention – it’s no compromise for us. We're here to pummel.”
Tracklist:
1.MEA CULPA
2.TRAPPED IN A HOUSE WITH A MANIAC
3.THE HANGED MAN
4.GOREHOUND
5.BASILISK
6.GOLEM
7.ALIVE