Hammers of Misfortune

The August Engine may not be the conceptual triumph The Bastard was. Musically, however, guitarists John Cobbett and Mike Scalzi packed the album with tons of truly stunning passages, strafing twin guitar harmonies for moments of unbridled power. As usual, the vocals are marked by Hammers' characteristically exaggerated (and awesome) poetry, with guest female vocalist Lorraine Rath playing perfect foil to Scalzi's fist-clenching lost soul warrior. Repeating the top-to-bottom success of The Bastard really would have been too much for the average listener to bear.