Artist:Hammerschmitt
Label: Golden Core Records
UPC: 698142659240
Genre: Heavy Metal
Release Date: 01/19/2024


When an already skilled local hard rock band is fortunate enough to have a guitar hero in its line-up (who unfortunately didn‘t become famous) and subsequently allows itself to be influenced by Iron Maiden rather than the acts of the seventies, it manages in 1985 to release a metal record of such quality and drive.

There are, of course, reasons why Hammerschmitt gave up the ghost after one LP, and why their album is still rather an open secret today. Even if it is now considered "cult" - at the time, the cover art was a death blow. The Metal Hammer‘s critics, important at the time, were clearly only influenced by the visual aspect of the record.

What‘s more, in 1985, the Rockport label was not a leader in the new German metal scene. After the successful albums by hard rockers Trance and the mega-hit "Die Hesse Komme!" by the Rodgau Monotones, the firm‘s influence was quickly lost, and other perfectly decent metal bands also paid the price. 

Had "Hammerschmitt" been released on a label like Noise, Roadrunner or Steamhammer (with a different cover), the story of the Hessian band would clearly have been different.

Nevertheless, the album was released on CD by Karthago Records in 2008 with modified artwork, and received many good reviews posthumously. Young fans took an interest in Hammerschmitt for the first time.

Golden Core now offers the first LP reissue with a new remaster. To remain faithful to the original, we‘ve opted for the 1985 cover, which, fortunately, is now described as "typically eighties", "zeitgeist" or even "cult".