The release preparations

Nuclear Blast wanted to launch HammerFall heavily onto the world, and in order to do that, they needed a visual aspect beside the musical. Therefore, two videos were recorded in the beginning of May 1997, to the songs "HammerFall" and "Glory To The Brave". The making of the videos took place in and outside the small Swedish town Mora, and was realized and supervised by Alfen Productions.

A promotion single with the tracks "Glory To The Brave" (radio/video edit), "HammerFall", "I Believe" and "The Dragon Lies Bleeding" was printed and distributed throughout the world. On the sleeve, it was falsely printed "Stone Cold" as the fourth song. This was a mistake, as the song appearing on the CD is in fact "The Dragon Lies Bleeding".

To do the music contained on the album justice, the legendary great Andreas Marschall (Running Wild, Blind Guardian, U.D.O.) was asked to paint the full-length album cover. He came up with the finished version a little over a week after his initial contact with the band, giving the HammerFall concept its finishing touches.

The month of May also saw the HammerFall line-up completed when Magnus Rosén joined on bass guitar. He is most famous for his work with Billionaires Boys Club and Keegan. Magnus is an extremely skilled bass bender and has proven to be a valuable addition to the rhythm section. As hard as it seemed to be to replace Fredrik, the HammerFall line-up finally was complete!



The initial response

Neither Nuclear Blast nor the band themselves could expect that a heavy metal band could get such exposure and raving reviews in the nineties, but it happened! "Glory To The Brave" was awarded Album Of The Month in both Rock Hard and Heavy Oder Was?, two of Germany's leading metal magazines, earning 10 out of 10 and 11 out of 12 respectively. The album entered the German Music Chart at position no. 38, the highest for a debut heavy metal album ever! All of Europe's major metal press almost unanimously praised the album, and the sales figures showed that the fans, too, loved HammerFall.




The first outings

In August, the band co-headlined an eight-show tour of Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands together with rock legends Raven, with Tank as opening act. The tour was hilariously dubbed Glory To Everything Louder, a spoof on "Glory To The Brave" and "Everything Louder Than Everything Else". The first HammerFall concert outside Swedish borders was at Wacken Open Air, in front of 12-14,000 fans. The tour was completed in at the Pop Komm festival in Cologne, at the Luxor. In front of a jam-packed house, the tour package got assistance from Virgin Steele and Lake Of Tears.

After spending three weeks at home, it was time to hit the road again, this time with long time hero Kai Hansen's Gamma Ray and the American band Jag Panzer. The tour package travelled through most Western European countries, and it was a complete success, from start to finish! On the second night, at the Heavy Oder Was? Festival (Bang Your Head II) in Tübingen, Germany, Andy Mück, formerly of Stormwitch, joined HammerFall in a rendition of the German cult band's "Ravenlord", to a rabid crowd reaction. The ending in Greece was also a memorable one, as the first show in Athens was sold out beforehand. The promotor decided to book another show the next day, and all in all 2,500 people saw HammerFall and Gamma Ray tear down the house two nights in a row! A great conclusion to a great tour!



The winter months

A new video of the song "Glory To The Brave" was made in August, and a CD-single was released. The release featured a radio version of the title track, a studio version of Stormwitch's "Ravenlord" - the first material ever recorded with this line up - and was supposed to include a remixed and remastered version of "I Believe", recorded at the Wacken Open Air. As it happens, Nuclear Blast made the tragic and unforgivable mistake of pressing the record with a rough mix of "The Metal Age" from Wacken. The second pressing of the CD-single featured the originally scheduled "I Believe", but the harm was already done.

During the fall, the album was also released in U.S.A. and Japan. Before long, the sales figure of "Glory To The Brave" was approaching 100,000 records worldwide! Who would have thought this a year ago? This capped off an unusually eventful year in the life of HammerFall.

The band got an early Christmas gift when the nominees for the annual Swedish Grammis Awards were announced. The impact of the band had not gone unnoticed, as HammerFall was nominated in Best Hard Rock Act. Although the award went to another band, the meaning of the all this is not to be overlooked: another victory for heavy metal was one simply by being nominated, once again bringing the music back to the forefront.


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