'Unbent, Unbowed, Unbroken' is 'Hammerfall's' fifth release and my first full taste of these Swedish Power Metallers. The material is not quite what I expected, the majority of tracks are the lighter side of Power Metal and fairly commercial sounding, especially with the ever present big choruses. I personally was expecting a more straightforward European Power Metal sound, but to me this is more akin to a cross between 'Manowar' and 'Stratovarius'. Technically there's no problem 'Joachim Cans' is a talented vocalist, while the twin guitarists and rhythm section are impressive, but in all honesty this release lacks bite and the less than dynamic production hardly improves matters.

The 'Stratovarius' style rocker 'Secrets' is a surprise choice for an opener, it has a very mid album feel to me, despite this it's a decent track, nice intro, 'Helloween' style pummelling rhythm over chorus and solid keyboard work which gives the aforementioned feel. The single release 'Blood Bound' follows and in my opinion is an improvement, lyrically it's pretty strong, with a catchy sing-a-long chorus, 'Can's' displays a good range and the guitar work is solid throughout. Better still is the 'Judas Priest' reminiscent 'Fury of the Wild', the heaviest and also the best track of the album, the rhythm work is fresh, lively and thoroughly enjoyable, while the guitar solo and vocal work are impressive. Next up is 'Hammer of Justice', a fairly run-of-the-mill affair, static mid pace tempo throughout, trite but hearty chorus and while far from poor, hardly impressive. The customary ballad takes the shape of 'Never Ever' and overlooking a strong vocal performance from 'Cans' this is predictable and nothing you haven't heard before. 'Born to Rule' is further into 'Manowar' territory with typical blood and steel lyrics, that said this is an improvement, as there's a little more variation and a robust solo from 'Stefan Elmgren'. Following in similar fashion is 'The Templar Flame' and correct me if I'm wrong, but there's more than a trace of 'Queensrÿche' in this song, all told one of the stronger efforts, with sharp backing vocal contributions and some strong lyrics to boot. A short gothic instrumental takes the shape of 'Imperial', I'm a sucker for these medieval pieces, as you can probably tell from other reviews and this is a really nice piece of work. The tempo is lifted for 'Take the Black' a brisker, lively cut, that ebbs and flows nicely and is graced with good lyrics and sweet guitar solo. Last up is the epic 'Knights of the 21st Century' and this is all over the place in my opinion, the vocal intro compliments of 'Venom's' 'Cronos' is no less than dire, the succeeding section heads down a semi decent mid tempo rocker route, while the song picks up around 8 minute mark, only to conclude with a 'Cronos' vocal contribution- all interest is lost well before this point however!

There's the bare bones of a decent album here, but there's too many mediocre moments and not enough memorable material to make this album compete with earlier glories.