HammerFall
( Also written Hammerfall ) Hammerfall is a Swedish power metal band that was founded in Gothenburg in 1993. The band's name is the song " Lucifer's Hammer " by American band Warlord taken, which contains the line " The Hammer will fall on you! ".
History
Originally Hammerfall was founded in 1993 as a project of Oscar Dronjak and In Flames guitarist Jesper Strömblad. In 1996, the Swedish band Hammerfall competition Rockslaget ( "The Rock Battle " ) and arrived there in the nationwide elimination semi-final. During the competition, singer Mikael Stanne has been replaced by Joacim Cans.
In the same year the band for a short time worked together with the Dutch label Vic Records and released their debut album in the Netherlands Glory to the Brave. Beginning of 1997, finally signed Hammerfall a contract with the German label Nuclear Blast on the European release of the album. Glory to the Brave sparked over Europe from a new heavy metal boom after it was explained in the course of the 1990s, the traditional Heavy Metal by many as part of the grunge wave and subsequent more recent rock music styles for "dead".
Hammerfall was the Rookie of the Year 1997 at the Metal genre. The debut album reached excellent reviews, sold worldwide in hundreds of thousands and in Germany rose to number 36 in the charts. Hammerfall toured through Europe in the same year and played among others at the Wacken Open Air
With her second studio album Legacy of Kings 1998 the band even made it to number 15 in the German album charts. She was several times nominated for the Swedish Grammy Award, but could never win this.
The third album Renegade from 2000 brought no new ground musically, enhanced the success of the band but in Sweden and reached the top of the album charts.
The fourth album Crimson Thunder followed in 2002. For this album Hammerfall was honored at a concert in Gothenburg on 20 February 2003 with a gold record. The recording of this concert was released in 2003 under the title One Crimson Night as a live album. On this live album can be found as bonus tracks as well as two shots from Guadalajara, Mexico and played in Santiago, Chile song. In the same year Joacim Cans paid tribute to the namesake of the band and sang a tribute to the warlord comeback album Rising Out of the Ashes.
Mid-2003 had to stop all activities until early 2004 Hammerfall after a serious motorcycle accident Oscar Dronjak. Joacim Cans used this time to record a solo album. This was entitled Beyond the Gates and appeared on 19 April 2004. Besides Cans also worked with Mrs. Hippie.
The next album by Hammerfall appeared in early 2005 and carried the programmatic title Chapter V - Unbent, Unbowed, Unbroken. At the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, the band together with the Swedish Women's Curling Olympic Team recorded a video which shows the five men in competition with the ladies. The basis of the video Hearts On Fire from the album Crimson Thunder. In October of the same year the new album Threshold, which in the previous month, the single Natural High was preceded appeared.
The former bassist Magnus Rosén left in March 2007, the band because he wanted to focus more on his side projects. Was succeeded by Fredrik Larsson, who had already worked in the 1990s with the band. Together they worked in May 2007 in Tenerife at the best-of album Steel Meets Steel - Ten Years of Glory. On the double CD of 12 October 2007, including three new songs, a new recording of Hammerfall and two live recordings from 1998 found.
What followed was the next line-up changes: guitarist Stefan Elmgren left the band in early April 2008 to work as a pilot can. Pontus Norgren 's successor was that it gave up his work at The Poodles. The album No Sacrifice, No Victory appeared on 20 February 2009 and recorded with the number 7 all-time high for the band new entry in the German charts.
On 20 May 2011 her eighth studio album, Infected, which reached number 9 in Germany appeared.
After a one year break Hammerfall announced for August 2014 a new studio album and a special appearance at the Wacken Open Air, in which the band will play their debut album Glory to the Brave in full length.
Music style
The style of Hammerfall was influenced by the heavy metal of the 1980s, with particularly the influence of Helloween is recognizable. Others see their music parallels to Judas Priest, Manowar and Accept. To show their roots, some pieces of tribute albums by Helloween, Dio and Twisted Sister were recorded. In addition, particular shows the published in 2008 cover album Masterpieces on still influences of lesser-known bands such as Warlord, Heavy Load, Chastain or loudness. The current style of Hammerfall is characterized by catchy melodies, harmonies and classic genre typical double bass. The guitar solos often show bonds in the Neo - Baroque. The vocals are clear and high ( falsetto ). The structure of the songs is mostly classical verse form, the lyrics were based on the first five albums on some elements of true metal, to which the band itself, however, has never known. The following works were, at least since the introduction Pontus Norgren, reinforced influences from classic heavy metal.
In the course of the career, the band had several music producers: After the first two albums under Fredrik Nordström had been recorded, Renegade followed under Michael Wagener. From Crimson Thunder to No Sacrifice, No Victory producers role was Charlie Bauerfeind. The new album was produced by James Michael Infected, Oscar Dronjak and Pontus Norgren.