Gandalf was found back in 1993 as a black-metal band. But what we hear on "Rock Hell" is something totally different. Gandalf plays a melodic kind of metal n` roll with a light Gothenburg touch. Something like bands as Monster Magnet (but then more metal) or the new Entombed (but then more melodic). Actually Gandalf mixes many different styles of metal in their music, but on a natural way. Based on solid heavy-metal riffs Gandalf plays their music mostly at mid-tempo searching for a combination between melody and aggression. The light Gothen-burg touch is due to the typical screaming vocals and some of the guitar parts ("Human Value Zero").

But on the other hand Gandalf also uses some clean vocals and if you listen carefully you might even recognize the punk-a-like drum brakes. I think this release should be able to reach fans of all sorts of metal. But I just can`t tell who will really like this release. I personally liked it but the fact is that this release hasn`t really got that little bit extra what makes a release grow above the standard, so the rating above is justified, in my opinion of course.