In 1996, HammerFall reached the semi-finals of Rockslaget. Since vocalist Mikael Stanne was not going to be able to perform with the band on the semi-finals, through mutual friends, they got in contact with Joacim Cans, who agreed to play with them for the night. The concert was a success, despite the fact that the judges didn't qualify HammerFall for the finals. By the end of that day, Joacim had already been made an official member of the band.
since that day Joacim became the permanent singer for the band...and they history of this band had just begun...In early 1997, German label Nuclear Blast approached HammerFall with a contract for a European release deal, which included four albums. Towards the end of 1997, "Glory to the Brave" was released in Japan and the United States. Sales of the album reached one hundred thousand copies. HammerFall were also nominated for the Swedish Grammy award in the Best Hard Rock act category....they hit the spot that year.
Their first world tour took place in October 1998, after the release of "Legacy of Kings". During the shows in Sweden, Joacim Cans caught a serious throat infection which made it impossible for him to sing. Shortly afterwards, Magnus Rosén was afflicted with the same disease, and after him the whole of HammerFall's support crew became sick. The members of the band played for as long as possible and then were forced to postpone or cancel a few dates. By the end of that tour, drummer Patrik Räfling left the band, and Anders Johansson joined the band.
Following the release of "Renegade", the reviews were mostly positive, even though there was a consensus that the band's sound was remarkably different. A music video was made for the title track, and reached the top of the Swedish parade; the same soon happened with the album itself, which reached gold status with over forty thousand copies sold.
After releasing "Crimson Thunder", HammerFall's tour was brought to a sudden end when Oscar Dronjak suffered a motorcycle accident, breaking his left arm and sustaining several minor injuries. They were then left with no choice but to take a break.
Their 6th album, titled "Threshold", was released on October 20, 2006 and it went directly to a number 1 position on the Swedish charts.
On March 6, 2007, a statement was posted online at HammerFall's official website (and his own official website), that bassist Magnus Rosén would not be involved with the band anymore, stating that he was unhappy in the band and wanted to focus on other projects. He has since released a few solo albums that are comprised mostly of bass playing and also joined Tony Martin's band.
On the next albums after threshold...the sound of tha band changed...and it was a shock for all the fans how they changed so quickly from the epicness of their songs and catchy choruses...to something more technical and refined. No Sacrifice No Victory, was an album that people didnt care that much and the following album was even worse...Infected...which had a lot of negative reviews by fans and the critics went soft with them calling the album "an interesting light heavy metal"...which defined properly their sound so far.
Now...in 2014 they released their new material called (R)evolution...with a fresh sound and renovated style mixing the old days of glory with their experimentation in the infected album and the previos one No Sacrifice, No Victory...a great album with the epicness from the Crimson Thunder days. and a n album worth to listen to indeed.
Enjoy!
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HMMRFLL2014
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