Nashville or else, Hammerfall's music is a far cry from country. Often described as a mix between Dio's Holy Diver, Accept's Balls to the wall and Helloween's Keeper of the Seven Keys, Renegade is a classic metal album, one that has been creating excitement all over the European continent as well as Japan. Is America next?

The contrast between a major and an independent label is so much bigger here than it is in Europe. Oscar elaborates: "Oh man, America is so different! I have not lived here that much, so I cannot tell exactly, but it seems like Americans are so content with what they're being fed by the big companies and MTV. Americans are not nearly as passionate to check out new things. This applies not only to music. Hopefully it is changing. And remember, heavy metal is such a quality type of music, there really is no limit how huge it can become."

It is interesting to point out that as far as the States are concerned, the third album always has had historical importance to a hard rock artist. Just look at these number three's: Iron Maiden's Number of the Beast, or Metallica's Master of Puppets or even Aerosmith's Toys in the Attic. These classics became the launching pads to fabulous hard rock careers for the artists involved. Has this created pressure for our Swedish warriors?

"Of course there is some pressure," Oscar admits. "Several people have pointed out that this could be our make-it-or-break-it album. But if he had looked at it that way, the album would not have sounded the way it does now. For us, every song on every album is as important as the one before. So we didn't try to 'get away with' or 'plan' anything. We tried to write quality song worthy of any album we have done or we will do in the future. Now we just need to promote it."

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