With “Born With A Hammer”, metal icon Kai Hansen, co-founder of Helloween, founder of Gamma Ray and one of the pioneers of power metal, releases his new solo album today. Following “Feeding The Beast”, “Welcome To Life” and “Wait And See”, the full album is available now via earMUSIC.
The nearly eight-minute title track “Born With A Hammer” is the album’s centrepiece. The song takes its time, repeatedly changing direction while remaining a cohesive whole. Just when you think you know where it is heading, the next section unfolds. A piece that, in this form, could only come from Kai Hansen.
“Born With A Hammer” is Kai Hansen’s very own “Bohemian Rhapsody”: an expansive, metal epic that follows its own dramatic arc and brings the different facets of his musical personality together in a single song.
Yet the title track never feels like a mere display of musical grandeur. Despite its length, it remains direct, alive and full of playful energy. Each new turn feels natural and carries the song forward until its individual ideas form a cohesive whole.
This freedom shapes the entire album. Across ten songs, Hansen combines powerful heavy metal, punk attitude, driving hard rock and strong melodies with unexpected details, without ever losing sight of his own sound.
“Born With A Hammer” was produced by Eike Freese, Kai Hansen and Alexander Dietz. The album was recorded with Eike Freese on guitar, Alexander Dietz of Heaven Shall Burn on bass, Carcass drummer Dan Wilding and Induction guitarist Tim Hansen.
The result is an album that carries Hansen’s musical history within it without being defined by that history. Rather than looking back, “Born With A Hammer” delivers ten new songs filled with energy, instinct and undiminished creative drive.
Following the worldwide success of the Helloween reunion and major international tours, Kai Hansen once again turns his attention to his own musical world. “Born With A Hammer” presents an artist whose place in metal history has long been secure, yet who is clearly still looking ahead.
TRACKLIST
- Feeding The Beast
- Welcome To Life
- Don’t Care
- Wait And See
- Born With A Hammer
- I.D.G.A.F.
- End Of The Road
- Triple Trouble
- Invaders
- Wonderland
FORMATS
CD Digipak
Black LP Gatefold (180g)
Limited Picture Disc LP (180g)
ABOUT KAI HANSEN
Kai Hansen is one of the most influential creative forces in modern heavy metal. As a co-founder of Helloween and founder of Gamma Ray, he played a decisive role in shaping the sound and spirit of power metal and continues to inspire artists and fans around the world.
Today, he is once again performing with Helloween on the world’s biggest stages. “Born With A Hammer” reveals another side of his creative drive: personal, direct and full of energy.
