Hammerfall
| Hammerfall | |
|---|---|
 |
|
 Hammerfall at Wacken Open Air 2014 |
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| General information | |
| origin | Gothenburg , Sweden |
| Genre (s) | Power metal , heavy metal |
| founding | 1993 |
| Website | www.hammerfall.net |
| Founding members | |
| Mikael Stanne (until 1996) | |
| Niklas Sundin (until 1995) | |
| Oscar Dronjak | |
| Jesper Strömblad (until 1997) | |
| Johan Larsson (until 1994) | |
| Current occupation | |
singing |
Joacim Cans (since 1996) |
guitar |
Oscar Dronjak |
guitar |
Pontus Norgren (since 2008) |
Drums |
David Wallin (2014–2016, since 2017) |
bass |
Fredrik Larsson (1994–1997, since 2007) |
| former members | |
Drums |
Anders Johansson (1999-2014) |
guitar |
Glenn Ljungström (1995-1997) |
Drums |
Patrik Räfling (1997–1999) |
bass |
Magnus Rosén (1997-2007) |
guitar |
Stefan Elmgren (1997-2008) |
Drums |
Johan Koleberg (2016-2017) |
Hammerfall (official spelling: Hammerfall ) is a Swedish power metal - band , the 1993 in Gothenburg was founded. The band name is taken from the song "Lucifer's Hammer" by the American band Warlord , which contains the text line " The hammer will fall on you! “Contains.
history
Hammerfall was originally founded in 1993 as a project by Oscar Dronjak and in-flames guitarist Jesper Strömblad . In 1996 Hammerfall took part in the Swedish band competition Rockslaget ("The Rock Battle") and reached the semi-finals there in the nationwide elimination. During the competition, singer Mikael Stanne was replaced by Joacim Cans .
In the same year the band worked for a short time with the Dutch label Vic Records and released their debut album Glory to the Brave in the Netherlands . In the beginning of 1997 Hammerfall finally signed a contract with the German label Nuclear Blast for the Europe-wide release of the album. Glory to the Brave triggered a new heavy metal boom across Europe after traditional heavy metal was declared “dead” by many in the course of the 1990s in the wake of the grunge wave and subsequent newer rock music styles .
Hammerfall was 1997's newcomer to metal. The debut album achieved excellent reviews, sold hundreds of thousands of copies worldwide and entered the charts in Germany at number 36. Hammerfall toured Europe in the same year and played at the Wacken Open Air , among others . With their second studio album Legacy of Kings from 1998, the band even made it to number 15 in the German album charts. She was nominated several times for the Grammis , but could never win it.
The third album Renegade from 2000 brought no musical innovations, but reinforced the success of the band and reached the top of the album charts in Sweden. The fourth album Crimson Thunder followed in 2002. For this album Hammerfall was awarded a gold record at a concert in Gothenburg on February 20, 2003 . The recording of this concert was released as a live album in 2003 under the title One Crimson Night . This live album also includes two recordings from Guadalajara in Mexico and a song played in Santiago de Chile as bonus tracks . In the same year, Joacim Cans paid tribute to the band's namesake and sang the Warlord comeback album Rising Out of the Ashes .
In mid-2003, Hammerfall had to suspend all activities until early 2004 after Oscar Dronjak suffered a serious motorcycle accident . Joacim Cans used this time to record his solo album Beyond the Gates . Cans also worked for Mrs. Hippie . Hammerfall's next album was released in early 2005 and was titled Chapter V - Unbent, Unbowed, Unbroken . For the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin , the band together with the Swedish women's curling Olympic team recorded a video showing the five men competing with the women. The video was based on Hearts on Fire from the album Crimson Thunder . In October of the same year, the new album Threshold was released , which was preceded by the single Natural High in the previous month .
The previous bassist Magnus Rosén left the band in March 2007 because he wanted to concentrate more on other projects. He was succeeded by Fredrik Larsson, who had already worked with the band in the 1990s. They worked together in Tenerife in May 2007 on the best-of album Steel Meets Steel - Ten Years of Glory . The double album from October 12, 2007 includes three new songs, a new recording of Hammerfall and two live recordings from 1998. Guitarist Stefan Elmgren left the band at the beginning of April 2008 in order to be able to work as a pilot. His successor was Pontus Norgren, who gave up his work at The Poodles . The album No Sacrifice, No Victory was released on February 20, 2009 and recorded at number 7 the highest new entry for the band in the German charts.
Her eighth studio album, Infected , was released on May 20, 2011, and reached number nine in Germany. After a one-year hiatus, Hammerfall announced a new studio album for August 2014 and a special appearance at Wacken Open Air in December 2013, where the band played their full-length debut album Glory to the Brave . In addition, the band was supported by Stefan Elmgren for the song The Dragon Lies Bleeding .
The ninth studio album is called (r) Evolution and was released in Germany on August 29th. Fredrik Nordström, who already produced the first two Hammerfall albums, was chosen as producer. Furthermore, like the first three albums, the album cover comes from Andreas Marschall and contains some allusions to their designs. The first single called Bushido ( Japanese 武士道 , literally "Weg ( dō ) des Kriegers ( Bushi )") was released on July 18, together with a new version of The Way of the Warrior and at the same time as the restart of the official website.
In March 2016, a label change to Napalm Records was announced with the announcement of a tenth studio album . The album Built to Last was released on November 4th, 2016.
The eleventh studio album Dominion was released on August 16, 2019 .
Music genre
The style of Hammerfall was influenced by the heavy metal of the 1980s, with the influence of Helloween being particularly noticeable. Others see parallels in their music with Judas Priest , Manowar and Accept . To show their roots, some pieces for tribute albums by Helloween, Dio and Twisted Sister were recorded. They also honored one of their idols, Stormwitch , with the cover of the song Ravenlord on the EP Glory to the Brave , whose singer performed with Hammerfall at the Wacken Open Air in 2004. In addition, the cover album Masterpieces , published in 2008, shows influences from lesser-known bands such as Warlord , Heavy Load , Chastain and Loudness . Today's style of Hammerfall is characterized by catchy melodies, classical harmonies and genre-typical double bass. The guitar solos often borrow from the neo- baroque . The vocals are clear and high ( falsetto ). The structure of the songs mostly has classic stanzas , the lyrics on the first five albums were based on some elements of True Metal , to which the band has never committed itself. The following works showed, at least since Pontus Norgren's entry, increased influences from classic heavy metal.
In the course of their career, the band changed music producers several times : After the first two albums had been recorded under Fredrik Nordström, Renegade under Michael Wagener followed . From Crimson Thunder to No Sacrifice, No Victory , the producer role was Charlie Bauerfeind . The album Infected was produced by James Michael , Oscar Dronjak and Pontus Norgren.
Discography
Studio albums
| year | Title music label |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, music label , placements, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 DE
|
 AT
|
 CH
|
 SE
|
|||
| 1997 |
Glory to the Brave Nuclear Blast |
DE38 (7 weeks) DE |
AT40 (3 weeks) AT |
- | - |
First published: June 27, 1997
|
| 1998 |
Legacy of Kings Nuclear Blast |
DE15 (4 weeks) DE |
AT34 (2 weeks) AT |
- |
SE15 (4 weeks) SE |
First published: September 28, 1998
|
| 2000 |
Renegade Nuclear Blast |
DE17 (4 weeks) DE |
AT43 (1 week) AT |
CH72 (1 week) CH |
SE1  (9 weeks)SE |
First published: October 9, 2000
Sales: + 40,000 |
| 2002 |
Crimson Thunder Nuclear Blast |
DE13 (4 weeks) DE |
AT65 (1 week) AT |
CH83 (1 week) CH |
SE3 (9 weeks)SE |
First published: October 28, 2002
Sales: + 30,000 |
| 2005 |
Chapter V: Unbent, Unbowed, Unbroken Nuclear Blast |
DE12 (4 weeks) DE |
AT36 (4 weeks) AT |
CH39 (3 weeks) CH |
SE4 (12 weeks) SE |
First published: March 4, 2005
|
| 2006 |
Threshold Nuclear Blast |
DE15 (5 weeks) DE |
AT30 (3 weeks) AT |
CH32 (4 weeks) CH |
SE1 (8 weeks) SE |
First published: October 18, 2006
|
| 2009 |
No Sacrifice, No Victory Nuclear Blast |
DE7 (6 weeks) DE |
AT25 (4 weeks) AT |
CH20 (5 weeks) CH |
SE2 (11 weeks)SE |
First published: February 20, 2009
Sales: + 20,000 |
| 2011 | Infected Nuclear Blast |
DE9 (4 weeks) DE |
AT17 (3 weeks) AT |
CH21 (5 weeks) CH |
SE2 (9 weeks) SE |
First published: May 20, 2011
|
| 2014 | (r) Evolution Nuclear Blast |
DE4 (4 weeks) DE |
AT13 (3 weeks) AT |
CH5 (4 weeks) CH |
SE1 (6 weeks) SE |
First published: August 27, 2014
|
| 2016 | Built to Last Napalm Records |
DE8 (4 weeks) DE |
AT19 (2 weeks) AT |
CH15 (2 weeks) CH |
SE6 (1 week) SE |
First published: November 6, 2016
|
| 2019 |
Dominion Napalm Records |
DE4 (5 weeks) DE |
AT11 (2 weeks) AT |
CH2 (3 weeks) CH |
SE2 (1 week) SE |
First published: August 16, 2019
|
gallery
- Hammerfall, line-up at Rockharz 2018
Singer Joacim Cans
Guitarist Oscar Dronjak
Guitarist Pontus Norgren
Bass player Fredrik Larsson
Web links
- Official website (English)
- Hammerfall at Nuclear Blast
- Interview with drummer Anders Johansson ( Memento from December 23, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
Individual evidence
- ↑ Home | HammerFall - The Official Website. In: hammerfall.net. Retrieved on May 16, 2020 (English).
- ↑ Hammerfall 2014: New album and Wacken announcement . In: metal-hammer.de , accessed on December 5, 2013.
- ↑ Details on the new Hammerfall album (r) Evolution . In: metal-hammer.de , accessed on July 18, 2014.
- ↑ Listen to the new Hammerfall single 'Bushido' . In: metal-hammer.de , accessed on July 18, 2014.
- ↑ A (r) Evolution is coming! In: hammerfall.net , accessed July 18, 2014.
- ↑ Peter Eriksson: Hammer Fall. In: hammerfall.net. Retrieved October 2, 2016 .
- ↑ cf. Thomas Klaner in BreakOut, issue 8/2000
- ↑ Interview with HammerFall: How Swede It Is. Melodicrock.com, accessed on March 27, 2019 .