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HammerFall is a power and heavy metal band from Gothenburg, Sweden, formed in 1993 by Oscar Dronjak, former guitarist of Ceremonial Oath. A good number of their songs are Hot-Blooded and heroic themed anthems.

And yes, that town in World of Warcraft is named after them and the game's art director, Samwise Didier, has made some of the band's album covers.

    Members 

Current lineup

  • Oscar Dronjak - rhythm guitar, backing vocals
  • Joacim Cans - lead vocals
  • Fredrik Larsson - bass, backing vocals
  • Pontus Norgren - lead guitar, backing vocals
  • David Wallin - drums

Former members

  • Stefan Elmgren - lead guitar
  • Magnus Rosén - bass
  • Patrik Räfling - drums
  • Jesper Strömblad - drums
  • Glenn Ljungström - lead guitar
  • Mikael Stanne - lead vocals
  • Niklas Sundin - lead guitar
  • Johan Larsson - bass
  • Anders Johansson - drums

    Discography 

Studio albums

  • Glory to the Brave (1997)
  • Legacy of Kings (1998)
  • Renegade (2000)
  • Crimson Thunder (2002)
  • Chapter V: Unbent, Unbowed, Unbroken (2005)
  • Threshold (2006)
  • No Sacrifice, No Victory (2009)
  • Infected (2011)
  • (r)Evolution (2014)
  • Built to Last (2016)
  • Dominion (2019)
  • Hammer of Dawn (2022)

Live albums

  • One Crimson Night (2003)
  • Gates of Dalhalla (2012)
  • Live! Against the World (2020)

Compilations

  • Steel Meets Steel: Ten Years of Glory (2007)
  • The Vinyl Single Collection (2008)
  • Masterpieces (2008)

Singles

  • Glory to the Brave (1997)
  • Heeding the Call (1998)
  • I Want Out (1999)
  • Renegade (2000)
  • Always Will Be (2000)
  • Hearts on Fire (2002)
  • Blood Bound (2005)
  • This Fire Burns Forever (2006)
  • Natural High (2006)
  • Last Man Standing (2007)
  • Any Means Necessary (2009)
  • My Sharona (2010)
  • One More Time (2011)
  • B.Y.H. (2011)
  • Send Me a Sign (2011)
  • Bushido (2014)
  • Hector's Hymn (2014)

Music videos


The band gives us these examples:

  • Heel–Face Door-Slam: Discussed in "Last Man Standing". The song is sung by a man who gave up everything and refused to budge in his beliefs, only to now see that he's just about out of time to make things right.
    "Seeing clearer what I've done, I refused to let things go
    I could never once admit I'm wrong, and what do I have to show?
    Seeing clearer what's at stake, and the things I have to change
    I just hope I can, it's not too late to get a chance to end this pain!"
  • He's Back!: After receiving a lot of flak for not including Hector in the cover of Infected, cue (r)Evolution not only featuring him, but the video for its opening song (being called ''Hector's Hymn'' even), featuring every album cover in the history of Hammerfall that did include him!
  • Proud Warrior Race Guy: The main character of Bushido. The whole song is littered with references to how honorable he is.
  • Punctuated! For! Emphasis!:
    • "Unbent! Unbowed! Unbroken!" from "Fury of the Wild" (Chapter V: Unbent, Unbowed, Unbroken, 2005).
    • "Kill! Win! Live! Die!" from "Any Means Necessary" (No Sacrifice, No Victory, 2009).
    • All the vocals of "Warriors of Faith" (Legacy of Kings, 1998).
  • Samurai: "Bushido" is essentially a "I Am" Song for the entire Samurai concept. So much that its single cover has Hector's armor evoking this trope.
  • Shout-Out:
    • The song titles contain numerous references to A Song of Ice and Fire - too many to be mere coincidence. For example, "Unbent, Unbowed, Unbroken", part of the title of one of their albums, is also the motto of House Martell with the first two words swapped around. There is also the song titles "Take the Black", which is when somebody joins the Night's Watch, and "Dark Wings, Dark Words" which is an in-universe proverb about messages carried by ravens. Lastly, the song "Winter is Coming" from (r)Evolution contains direct references to the books.
    • The song "Renegade" is a power-metal retelling of the setting of the TV series of the same name.
  • "No Sacrifice, No Victory" is the title of a track from the Transformers movie score, as well as a line from the movie.
  • The song title "Bushido" from (r)Evolution is Japanese for "Way of the Warrior", also a song title from the album Renegade (2000), and the song ends with a Call-Back to "Way of the Warrior".
  • Song of Song Titles: "Hector's Hymn", its lyrics not only contain references from the band's previous singles, but also their albums. The music video even features the old album covers as well.
  • Start My Own: The singer Joacim Cans has his own solo projects, one under the name Cans that mostly follows the style of Hammerfall, and one under his full name that's more folk inspired and uses Swedish texts.

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