SATURDAY MORNING DOUBLE FEATURE: THE BLOOD-AX SPEAKS

I've heard San Francisco's Hammers of Misfortune referred to as everything from "Celtic fantasy metal" to "Progressive power metal" to "Traditional (?) metal with folk and black metal influences", but none of these relatively narrow descriptions can really do them any justice. Birthed from the hoary loins of experimental black metallers Unholy Cadaver, Hammers have seen myriad changes over their almost decade-long existence, both stylistically and in their lineup. Sharing a lead vocalist and guitarist with the legendary Lord Weird Slough Feg in their early years (Mike Scalzi and John Cobbett, respectively), Hammers released two albums in the first half of this decade, the fully realized concept/debut album The Bastard in 2001, and the shorter (but somehow more epic) August Engine in 2003. Scalzi left in 2006, being replaced by both Jesse Quattro and Patrick Goodwin from Dirty Power and Pansy Division, which resulted in a slightly less medieval and slightly more technical element in their sound.
Their more recent efforts were the highly political The Locust Years in 2006 and the double LP Fields/Church of Broken Glass in 2008. Both are highly recommended and available for purchase through a link at the end of this post.
Here are the two old ones:

THE BASTARD (2001)

Download HERE

(Unavailable for purchase)

THE AUGUST ENGINE (2003)

Download HERE

Purchase HERE

Above: Hammers of Misfortune, circa 2006.
Right: Hammers of Misfortune "family portrait", 2008.

Hammers website

Myspace (listen!)

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