HammerFall recently announced their 13th studio album “Avenge The Fallen”, which will be released on 9th August via Nuclear Blast Records. Less than a year after taking the final bow of their United Forces tour, the quintet of guitarist Oscar Dronjak, singer Joacim Cans, bass player Fredrik Larsson, guitarist Pontus Norgen, and drummer David Wallin are back with ten brand new solid pieces of classic heavy metal.
When it comes to the main focus of the album, frontman Joacim Cans highlights ‘freedom’ and the urge to let anyone be who they want to be. It’s represented in the album’s cover, where the band’s faithful warrior Hector chooses to walk his own path, despite what others tell him to do – much like HammerFall have and always will do.
As the third single from their highly anticipated album, ‘Freedom’ promises to deliver the high-octane energy and epic storytelling fans crave. This true HammerFall anthem boasts dark, thunderous backing vocals and an epic guitar solo that will send shivers down your spine.
Watch it below and pre-order / pre-save the album HERE.
“I began working on ‘Hail To The King’ while on tour in the US with Helloween”, Oscar Dronjak recalls. “By the end of the tour, I was getting close to wrapping the song up, so straight after the Los Angeles gig I headed to the bus where I worked like a madman to get the last pieces together. That turned out to be the show where one of my favorite wrestlers, Chris Jericho, came to visit. It was also the show where Fredrik met his idol Frank Bello from Anthrax and Joacim met Jay Ruston, producer for Armored Saints, Avatar, Anthrax, Corey Taylor, and more, and who after this meeting agreed to produce the vocals for Avenge The Fallen! I missed all that, but I at least got a great song out of it, haha!”
“This is our 13th album”, Joacim Cans says with pride. “How do you still stay relevant after 13 albums? It’s very much like the opening line to the song ‘Avenge The Fallen‘: “What is the worst, be the one who died, or be the one who survived. Think about it, because it is a tough question”.
He continues, “Do we want to be a band who releases new music just for the sole reason of getting out on the road again or do we want to keep pushing and challenging ourselves? In times when people have less and less attention span, we still think in the form of full-length albums. A few good songs don’t make a strong album. A strong album comes from an album full of great songs and that’s what we’re delivering with Avenge The Fallen.”