The Crimson Crusades continues…
A two-week break followed, then it was off to Japan for four shows with friends and metal mates Nocturnal Rites. An exhausting but fantastic week featuring a heralded return to Japanese shores, as people seemed to be anxious to see the bands perform. Chile, Argentina, Brazil and Mexico was next. Coming back to South America on every tour is something the band looks forward to very much, and this proved to be their best outing in that territory so far. Bigger crowds, better venues and more extatic fans than ever before gave this tour a Grade-A stamp. Summer time was spent doing festivals, as usual, among them The Bang Your Head festival in Balingen, Germany, the Masters Of Rock in Vizovice, Czech Republic and Metal Mania in Villarrobledo Albacete, Spain. Playing with bands such as Iron Maiden, Slayer, Dio, Twisted Sister, Stratovarius and U.D.O., the summer was spent with like-minded holding the metal rebel banners high.


… and concludes prematurely
The plan was to end the Crimson Crusades - now ten months in the making - with two shows in Sweden and one in England (only the band's second ever). Especially the first Swedish one was highly anticipated, as it was during a street-festival in the band's hometown Göteborg and 15,000 people were expected. Then, disaster struck. Oscar was enjoying the beautiful summer waether on his motorcycle, when he suddenly crashed into a non-moving left-turning vehicle in the road. Breaking his left arm and sustaining several minor injuries, it is still felt that he was very lucky, as these sort of crashes more often than not lead to significally worse results. Needless to say, the remaining three shows booked had to be cancelled, much to the chagrin of fans everywhere and the band, who hates to disappoint, hates it with a vengeance. But the severity of the incident gave no one a choice, unfortunately.


Involuntary liesure time
A previously discussed two-week Christmas tour also had to be scrapped, and everyone found themselves turning to other matters while Oscar recovered. Joacim started working on his solo album and had a baby in the process, Stefan concentrated on getting that pilot license he had coveted for so long and Magnus and Anders continued working on their different projects. Meanwhile, Oscar focused on getting back in playing-shape again, something which wasn't a given immediately after the ten-hour operation. Great doctors and physical rehab instructors together with a lot of rest and later hard work proved successful, however, and he was able to pick up the guitar again in November. Just in time for the 20th anniversary for the legendary Rockfabrik in Ludwigsburg, Germany, in fact. Anders, Joacim and Oscar went down to join the celebration. Together with guys from Helloween, Gamma Ray, Pretty Maids and a host of others, HammerFall helped wish the rock club a happy anniversary, may it be followed by at least another 20 years!


One Crimson Night
The Göteborg show on February 20th, 2003, was forever immortalized when "One Crimson Night" was launched after the end of the tour. Released as a CD and DVD, there were small but vital changes to the products. Besides the obvious, the DVD featured translations of Joacim's in-between-songs talks to seven different languages and a 15-minute bonus feature documentary called "On The Road". In order to make also the CD more attractive, three songs recorded on the South American adventure on the Crimson Crusades were included as bonus tracks. The cover for the CD was again masterfully drawn by Samwise Didier, and for the DVD some great pyro live shots of the stage bathing in explosives was used. The booklet for both versions was filled with live photos from the long and great world tour just completed, making this release worthy for Templars everywhere.


The future
Together with the fans, HammerFall had proved that heavy metal music was still alive and well in the ninetiesand into next millennium. Now, it's time to turn our eyes even further. What lies ahead? What territories are there to explore, what worlds are there to conquer? Who knows what tomorrow will bring? HammerFall do know, however, that none of this and nothing that happens in the future is possible without you, the true heavy metal fan! You are deeply thanked and invited to once again join in letting the world know that A METAL HEART IS HARD TO TEAR APART! The victory march for heavy metal has only begun!