Kai Hansen – Born With A Hammer: A Metal Pioneer Still Has Plenty of Fire Left

Review by Glen Parkes

When you have helped shape an entire genre, there must come a point when you can simply do whatever the hell you want. Kai Hansen reached that point a long time ago. As co-founder of Helloween and founder of Gamma Ray, Hansen is one of the key figures in the development of European power metal. Yet on his new solo album, Born With A Hammer, he sounds less interested in looking backwards than having a bloody good time moving forwards.

Released through earMUSIC, Born With A Hammer is Hansen’s first solo album in ten years, following XXX – Three Decades In Metal. The ten-track record brings together heavy metal, hard rock, punk attitude, melody and some rather unexpected twists. Recent reviews have also highlighted just how far Hansen steps outside the traditional power-metal box here, with some of the album’s strangest moments becoming part of its charm.

The album opens with Feeding The Beast, beginning in a surprisingly restrained fashion before the guitars and drums kick the door down. It is unmistakably Hansen, with that familiar combination of melody, metal and character in his vocals. The track builds steadily rather than simply throwing everything at you from the opening second, and it makes for an effective introduction.

Welcome To Life immediately demonstrates that this isn’t going to be another straightforward power-metal exercise. There is a punky edge and an unexpected reggae-flavoured section that could look completely bizarre on paper, yet Hansen makes the change feel like part of the fun. It is one of those moments where you can almost hear him grinning behind the microphone.

Don’t Care continues that rebellious streak. It is rougher around the edges and deliberately playful, while Wait And See takes things into darker territory. The heavier guitar sound, clipped grooves and gang-style vocals give the track a more modern character. It is another example of Hansen refusing to simply recreate the sound that made his name.

Then comes the monster.

At more than eight minutes, Born With A Hammer is the centrepiece of the album and easily the most ambitious composition here. The song constantly changes direction, moving between heavy riffs, melody, theatrical passages and grander arrangements without falling apart. The obvious comparison is Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, and the influence has been noted by several reviewers, particularly in the song’s theatrical construction.

But this is not simply Hansen attempting to make his own Bohemian Rhapsody. There is too much personality in it for that. It feels like a musician emptying the contents of his musical imagination onto one track and somehow getting the pieces to fit. It is ambitious, eccentric and, most importantly, entertaining.

I.D.G.A.F. throws another curveball into the mix, bringing electronic touches and a grinding riff into the equation. It is probably one of the tracks that will divide listeners, but it demonstrates exactly what Hansen appears to have wanted from this album: freedom. He is not trying to satisfy expectations of what a Helloween or Gamma Ray record should sound like.

End Of The Road brings the power-metal instincts back into sharper focus, with a more familiar melodic drive and an unmistakable Hansen sense of scale. Triple Trouble, featuring Hansen’s son Tim on guitar, is a shorter, faster blast of energy, while Invaders settles into a heavier stomping groove.

The closing track, Wonderland, finishes things with another combination of muscular guitars and melody. It is a fitting conclusion to an album that refuses to stay in one lane.

The musicians surrounding Hansen deserve recognition too. Eike Freese handles guitar and production duties, Alexander Dietz of Heaven Shall Burn plays bass and contributes to production, Carcass drummer Dan Wilding provides the rhythmic firepower, while Tim Hansen adds guitar. The album was produced by Freese, Hansen and Dietz.

There will inevitably be listeners who want Hansen to make another classic Gamma Ray or Helloween-style record. That is understandable given his history. But Born With A Hammer is not designed as a nostalgia trip. It is a snapshot of where Kai Hansen is creatively now.

And that is what makes the album interesting.

At times it is strange. At times it is wonderfully melodic. At times it sounds like Hansen has thrown the rulebook out of the window and decided to see what happens. But throughout the record, there is an infectious sense of freedom.

After more than four decades in heavy metal, Kai Hansen has absolutely nothing left to prove. Born With A Hammer sounds like a musician who knows that — and is having a damn good time because of it.

The hammer is still swinging.