Swedish heavy metal outfit Hammerfall have perfected the art of power metal.
Over 9 previous albums over a 25 year career the band have reshaped the inner sanctum of power metal to provide an accessible and powerful sound that has seen them sweep the world.
With their latest album Hammer Of Dawn out on February 25 vocalist Joacim Cans sat down with HEAVY for a chat about the album and Hammerfalls continued dominance.
"When it comes to Hammerfall... I wouldn’t say no surprises, I mean Hammerfall is heavy metal, simple as that,” he said. “We had a clear vision back in the early 90s when we started out. It was an eye on the prize, this is what we do. Hammerfall is traditional heavy metal, but of course without repeating ourselves. This album was made over a pretty long period of time because nowadays the creative process is a constant process. It's not like we sit down and say okay, lets write ten songs and then we record. We don't force ourselves into working like that. A lot of this stuff was... parts were written during the recording for the previous album, Dominion. They started taking shape and, of course, in the middle of the pandemic we realsied by the time the world opens up again we need to present some new material. We can't really go out and tour Dominion that came out in 2019, even though it still feels like that album has a lot to give. We needed to focus on something new. I would say it was a struggle at some points. You woke up in the morning and had to ask yourself what's the reason for me to get out of bed today?"
In the full interview Joacim talks about their approach to this album, the pressures of following up the success of Dominion, having King Diamond guest on the album, how Hammerfall have changed musically over the years, their upcoming tour with Helloween and more.