HAMMERFALL - Canada Lets The Hammer Fall!
by Martin Popoff

Hammerfall. That name elicits strong polarizing reaction from metal fans the world over. Guitarist Oscar Dronjak knows it - he's too much of a metal fanatic and watcher and commentator to miss it - but he's had a shift in philosophy as of late. He's basically not going to take the barbs any more, hence the title of the band's latest album Chapter V: Unbent, Unbowed, Unbroken.

HardRadio caught up with the soft-spoken Dronjak a couple hours before their first ever show in Canada, the special night also marking the first stop on their North American tour. As the concert would progress that night, after sets by Edguy and progressive death innovators Into Eternity (this band left the packed club in awe, their frontman one of the best I've seen in years, their FOUR vocalists out of five guys, constantly ping-ponging uniquely down the line then back - do not miss this band live), Hammerfall took the stage and proved mightily the strength of their very traditional songs in a live environment. Canadian flags with the HF logo replacing the maple leaf were in supply, frontman Joacim Cans was in complete galvanizing control, and the band's two secret weapons - Magnus Rosen's hair and Magnus Rosen's teeth - kept the fans cheering on and jeering onward the Swedish pioneers until voices were lost, until all horns were tossed.

In any event, in illustration of the above point with respect to the record title, the following excerpt came near the end of our bus-bound chat, in response to a seemingly innocuous question about the origins of said record's title. At this point, axeman Stefan Elmgren, who had been politely helping out answering questions, got up and asked if we were done, joking that I was in for a long answer to that one.

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