Biography
The foundation
The band was formed by Oscar Dronjak and
Jesper Strmblad in 1993, after they had quit
the death metal act Ceremonial Oath. Since
this idea had been existing in the mind of
Oscar for a while, the name, general direction
and some music (such as īSteel Meets Steelī)
were already there. Jesper and Oscar decided
that HammerFall had to be forwarded on a
project level, since both wanted to keep on
with their other, freshly started, bands, In
Flames and Crystal Age respectively. They
enlisted the help of fellow metallers Niklas
Sundin (guitar) and Mikael Stanne (vocals) of
Dark Tranquillity, and Johan Larsson (bass
guitar).
The formative years
The goal was to get together a couple of
times each year, rehearsing to particitpate in
the locar music competition called
īRockslagetī. Time went on, and Niklas and
Johan were replaced by Glenn Ljungstrm (In
Flames) and Fredrik Larsson (Crystal Age).
Apart from the HammerFall tunes īSteel Meets
Steelī and īHammerFallī, the band performed
the Pretty Maids classic īRed, Hot and Heavyī
as well as the Alice Cooper 1987 metal icon
īFreedomī.
The turning point
Fast forward to 1996. For the first time,
HammerFall advanced to the semi-finals of
īRockslagetī with īSteel Meets Steelī,
īUnchainedī and the Judas Priest anthem
īBreaking The Lawī. Amidst the celebration, it
was discovered that vocalist Mikael was
going to be on tour with Dark Tranquillity at
the time for the semi-finals. Hence, a new
singer had to be brought in for this gig. After
a bit of research, the name Joacim Cans came
up. A phone call later, and they were in
business. The cooperation with Joacim
proved to be a success, and he was
immediately sworn in as a permanent member
of the HF clan. Though entering a strong
performance in the competition, HammerFall
never reached the finals; the band was edged
out in the last minute by the judges, who
perhaps feared the imminent and
unavoidable rise of Heavy Metal once again
to international prominence. However, a
two-track live performance was recorded and
sent on video tape to Roel van Reijmersdal of
the Dutch label Vic Records. He marvelled
over its contents and immediately offered
HammerFall a deal. Consequently, the
summer and fall of this, the olympic year, was
spent writing, rehearsing and perfecting the
soon-to-be debut album, already entitled
"Glory To The Brave".
The recording session
The songs recorded during sixteen fabulous
november days were: "The Metal Age",
īUnchained", "HammerFall", "Child Of The
Damned", "Steel Meets Steel", "The Dragon
Lies Bleeding", īI Believe", "Stone Cold" and
"Glory To The Brave". All are original
HammerFall tracks except "Child Of The
Damned", which was the band's tribute to the
far too unnoticed metal masters Warlord. The
lyrics deal with topics ranging from sword
wielding warriors and the travelling of
dimensions, to paying homage to Heavy Metal
and the losing of beloved ones. They are
designed to complement the music and at the
same time tell a story; simply to entertain the
listener.
The rollercoaster ride begins
In january of 1997, the German label Nuclear
Blast approached Vic Records and
HammerFall, showing great interest. This
encounter resulted in a licensed release of
their debut CD and a four-album deal for the
band, starting with the next record. In order to
be able to give HammerFall no less than 100
%, a few line-up changes became necessary.
Jesper and Glenn decided to continue full
time with In Flames, and they were replaced
by Patrik Rfling (who actually plays the drums
on the album) and Stefan Elmgren, both
members of Joacim's previous band
Highlander. Oscar's and Fredrik's Crystal Age
had ceased to exist a long time ago, but
Fredrik also had another commitment: the
thrash metal group Beyond, now called None.
He decided to stick around long enough for
the HammerFall to find a replacement,
though.
The release preparations
Nuclear Blast wanted to launch HammerFall
heavily onto the world, and in order to do
that, they needed a visual aspect beside the
musical. Therefore, two videos were recorded
in the beginning of May 1997, to the songs
īHammerFallī and īGlory To The Braveī. The
making of the videos took place in and
outside the small Swedish town Mora, and
was created and supervised by Alfen
Productions. A promotion single with the
tracks īGlory To The Braveī (radio/video edit),
īHammerFallī, īI Believeī and īThe Dragon Lies
Bleedingī was printed and distributed
throughout the world. On the sleeve, it was
falsely printed īStone Coldī as the fourth
song. This was a mistake, as the song
appearing on the CD is in fact īThe Dragon
Lies Bleedingī. To do the music justice, the
legendary great Andreas Marschall (Running
Wild, Blind Guardian, U.D.O.) was asked to
paint the full length album cover. He came up
with the finished version a little over a week
before his initial contact with the band,
giving the HammerFall concept its finishing
touches. The month of May also saw the
HammerFall line-up completed, when Magnus
RosČn joined on bass guitar. He is most
famous for his work with Billionaires Boys
Club and Keegan. Magnus is an extremely
skilled bass bender and has proven to be a
valuable addition to the rhythm section. As
hard as it seemed to be to replace Fredrik, the
HammerFall line-up finally was complete!
The initial response
Neither Nuclear Blast nor the band
themselves could expect that a heavy metal
band could get such exposure and raving
reviews in the nineties, but it happened!
īGlory To The Braveī was awarded Album Of
The Month in both Rock Hard and Heavy Oder
Was?, two of Germany's leading metal
magazines, learning 10 out of 10 and 11 out
of 12 respectively. The album entered the
German Music Chart at position no. 38, the
highest for a debut heavy metal album ever!
All of Europe's major metal press almost
unanimously praised the album, and the
sales figures showed that also the fans loved
HammerFall.
The first outings
In August, the band co-headlined an eight
show tour of Germany, Switzerland and the
Netherlands together with rock'n'roll legends
Raven, with Tank as opening act. The first
HammerFall concert outside of Sweden was
at Wacken Open Air, in front of 12-14,000
fans. The tour was completed in at the Pop
Komm festival in Cologne, at the Luxor. In
front of a jam packed house of 500, the tour
package got assistance from Virgin Steele
and Lake Of Tears. After spending three
weeks at home, it was time to hit the road
again, this time with long time hero Kai
Hansen's Gamma Ray and Jag Panzer. The
tour package travelled through most Western
European countries, and it was a complete
success, from start to finish! On the second
night, at the Heavy Oder Was? Festival in
Tøbingen, Germany, Andy Møck, formerly of
Stormwitch, joined HammerFall in a rendition
of the German cult band's īRavenlordī, to a
rabid crowd reaction. The ending in Greece
was also a memorable one, as the first show
in Athens was sold out beforehand. The
promotor decided to book another show the
next day, and 2,500 people saw HammerFall
and Gamma Ray tear down the house two
nights in a row! A great conclusion to a great
tour!
The winter months
A new video of the song īGlory To The Braveī
was made in August, and a CD-single was
released. The release featured a radio version
of the title track, a studio version of
Stormwitch's īRavenlordī ń the first material
ever recorded with this line up ń and was
supposed to include a remixed and
remastered version of īI Believeī, recorded at
the Wacken Open Air. As it happens, Nuclear
Blast made the tragic and unforgivable
mistake of pressing the record with a rough
mix of īThe Metal Ageī from Wacken. The
second pressing of the CD-single featured
the originally scheduled īI Believeī, but the
harm was already done. During the fall, the
album was also released in U.S.A. and Japan.
Before long, the total sales figure of īGlory To
The Braveī was approaching 100,000 records
worldwide! Who would have thought this a
year ago? This capped off an unusually
eventful year in the life of HammerFall. The
band got an early Christmas gift when the
nominees for the annual Swedish Grammis
Awards were announced. The impact of the
band had not gone unnoticed, as HammerFall
was nominated in Best Hard Rock Act.
Although the award went to another band,
the meaning of the all this is not to be
overlooked: another victory for heavy metal
was one simply by being nominated, once
again bringing the music back to the
forefront.
The new year
The year of 1998 was kicked off with a short
headline tour, supported by Belgian cult act
Double Diamond. Five gigs were played in
Belgium - a country not visited by HammerFall
before - and the Netherlands. Shortly
thereafter, the first HammerFall concert in
Gteborg in six months was scheduled. It was
organised by Rock Scene, and the 400 tickets
were sold out over a week before the show.
The concert was recorded live by Fredrik
Nordstrm (Studio Fredman), to be used on an
upcoming single. Before starting to
concentrate on the follow up to īGlory To The
Braveī, a handful of Swedish shows were
made, to overwhelming response.
The pressure is onÖand delt with
The last couple of months had been
sporadically used for song writing, but in
February the real work started. The recording
was sheduled to begin on April 27th, and the
expectations would be sky high for the
second full length album from these guys.
Once again written by Oscar, Joacim and
Jesper, īLegacy Of Kingsī lived up to every
one of those expectations. On a side note,
due to Jesper no longer being an active part
of the band, his input in this album is
considerably smaller, often reduced to just a
riff or a melody. But all three wanted to
continue writing together, to preserve the
magic that made īGlory To The Braveī what is
was. Around 40 days was spent in Studio
Fredman perfecting īLegacy Of Kingsī. It was
hard work, but it paid off in the end. The
result is a much more mature album than the
first, both playing wise and in the structure of
the songs. A large attention to detail was
paid, from the overall sound to every little
part of every song. The album was produced
by Fredrik Nordstrm and Oscar Dronjak, with
assistance from Joacim
Cans on some vocal parts.
Festival frenzy
Beginning with Dynamo Open Air (Holland) in
May and ending with the Rock Hard Festival
(Germany) in August, HammerFall made
appearances on several festivals. Apart from
the already mentioned, Karlshamns Rock
Festival (Sweden) and Monsters Of Rock
(Italy) in June, and Mind Over Matter (Austria)
and With Full Force (Germany) in July are
among worth mentioning.
The second chart entry
On August 3rd, the first sample of what
īLegacy Of Kingsī would sound like was
unleashed upon the world in the form of a
single. The songs on the release were
īHeeding The Callī, a classic heavy metal
track, īEternal Darkī, a Picture cover, and
three of the live tracks recorded in Gteborg in
January. The three songs were īThe Metal
Ageī, īSteel Meets Steelī and īStone Coldī,
showing the pure strength and power of a
heavy metal concert. The single entered the
German Singles Charts on position 48 and
stayed on for three weeks, selling almost
20,000 copies in the process. Compare this
with the Blind Guardian ń one of the leading
German bands - single īMirror, Mirrorī, which
entered the chart on pos. 44 but was nowhere
to be found the next week, and you will begin
to understand what an incredible
breakthrough this was for HammerFall and
Nuclear Blast!
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