HammerFall Are Set To Rock Australia Next Week On Their Very First Headline Tour

The GODS have listened, and they have heeded your call, Sweden’s Power Metal overlords, the mighty HammerFall will set sail for Australia next week for their first ever Australian tour. No matter how much everything changes in culture and the world at large, heavy metal endures. It empowers. It engages. It engenders strength. It outlasts fads.

Since forming in Gothenburg, Sweden and releasing their debut album Glory To The Brave in 1997, HammerFall have stormed the gates of heavy music’s pantheon and waved the genre’s flag higher and higher with every subsequent release. With multiple international number ones, gold certifications, sold out tours, and over 100 million+ streams and 100 million+ YouTube views, the group upholds a venerable legacy.

But it is in a live setting where they outshine their peers and imitators. In true HammerFall fashion, every element becomes dangerously and dramatically amplified. The riffs hit harder. The rhythms thunder louder. The choruses soar closer to the clouds.

The Hammer will strike with force in Australia as HammerFall unleash a setlist full of power drenched anthems such as Heart’s on Fire, Last Man Standing, Brotherhood, Heeding the Call, Any Means Necessary, Hail to the King and so many more. Donning their brightest shining armour, HammerFall will leave their mark on Australia forever by delivering an unforgettable live experience for metalheads across the continent. Fredrik Larsson talks to Hi Fi Way about the tour.

Inside a week to starting your first Australian tour, are you excited that it’s happening?
Yeah, it’s going to be so great coming. We were in Australia eleven years ago, was it in 2014, just a couple of shows, but this time it’s a proper tour playing five shows. It’s going to be so great being back.

Are you ready for the hot weather when you get down to Australia?
We actually have like a snowstorm in Sweden here right now, so I’m not sure I’m prepared because I heard it’s pretty hot!

How do you pass the time on a long flight to Australia?
That’s one of the things that I’m not looking forward to, but you have to do what you have to do to get there. It’s going to be a long flight. It’s going to be exhausting, but as soon as we get on stage, that’s when it pays off. So, it’s worth every struggle!

Has there never really been the right time to get to Australia? Like you said eleven years ago you came down for a couple of shows, but has it been a case of the not having the right opportunity or the right timing?
I’m not sure actually why it didn’t happen before. Our main market is Europe, of course, and then we have a big markets in South America, and North America, so there’s a lot of territory to maintain.

Does it feel like making up for lost time and trying to cover the whole HammerFall career in a couple of hours?
Yeah, that’s what we usually do anyway. We try to pick songs from every record. This year it’s the twentieth anniversary for Chapter V: Unbent, Unbowed, Unbroken, so we’re going to do a medley from that one instead of playing a lot of songs that it takes away from the other songs. So, we’re going to do a medley and bring something from every record. We just did a rehearsal yesterday in Stockholm actually, so it’s going to be good.

2024 was a really, really big year for HammerFall with the new album Avenge The Fallen. Were you really happy with how fans right around the world embraced the album and got into it?
It seems like they got it and they really took on that album really well. For me it’s a small evolution for HammerFall. I think we’re still taking small steps forward, but a lot of fans think this is more of the old HammerFall and going back to our roots. I can’t say that I feel that way, but I understand because some are faster songs and there’s more diversity. I think we had a really good feeling about this one. We captured the rawness, the power and the energy that we have live. That’s one thing that I think we captured better on this record, so it might have to do with that.

Did anything in particular influence that at all, or did that just sort of evolve that way as you were recording these songs?
I think it just happened, it’s hard to say or point out something special because the demos were done by Oscar and Joacim who writes most of the music. When we get the demos for it’s sometimes it’s hard to understand the meaning behind it and see the full potential because they are still really raw demos, not fancy at all. So, you have to imagine a lot of things, but in the end, when we start bringing in and recording drums, David did a phenomenal job on this one, then we put on layers upon layers and everything starts to build up as a song. When you finally get to hear it with vocals and everything, so many things happened along the way with all the small steps which were taken. I think it was really great to be able to just bring everybody together and everyone bring their own things that they wanted to put in to this album. What we do is heavy metal and the box is pretty narrow. You can’t do anything else than heavy metal. We all bring what we our own experiences and our own influences, so that’s what makes HammerFall.

Do you think that this has set a little bit of a blueprint for what you might do with the next album when you get to that point?
I think this is what we always try to do. I don’t think we’ve done anything else this time. It’s just something that happened.

Is the video for the title track a bit of a taster of what Australian fans are in for next week?
Yeah, small clubs, a lot of interaction and sweaty, just being able to look fans in the eyes and see their reactions. It’s going to be exactly like that I hope!

Are you looking at or are there ideas in mind for a new album already?
I think maybe next year, we need do some planning, but Oscar is always bringing his recording stuff even on tour. Usually, when he gets off stage he has a lot of positive energy from the crowd, so that’s when he sits down and records riffs and songs. That’s how he works and he really gets something out of it. He is trying to be creative all the time and that’s really helping because then we don’t have the pressure to take two months off to write an album because he’s doing it all the time.

Are there any cool bands in Sweden we should be keeping an eye out on this year?
Oh, you know, I’m old school. I don’t listen to that much new music, but one of my favourite Swedish bands is Opeth, I just love their latest album. So that’s one I can really recommend.

How about an Australia band?
My absolute favourite is Karnivool, super good. I mean incredible. I would love to see them live sometime.

Do you get much time to check out the cities you are playing while you are here?
I don’t think we have that much time off, so I hope that I get some free time before soundcheck so I can walk around and just enjoying being in Australia, enjoying the atmosphere, the weather, and everything, the people. So, I hope to have as much free time as possible just to walk around and see everything.

Interview By Rob Lyon

Catch HammerFall on the following dates, tickets from The Phoenix…