Domestic difficulties are overcome

The touring before the festival season was almost over when HammerFall sat down and discussed the future commitments and attitudes within the band. It was mutually agreed that, since Patrik no longer had the drive and desire that burned so bright inside the others, he should step down and let someone else accept the responsibility of being a member of a Heavy Metal Force such as this. Anders Johansson, a good friend of Magnus', was asked to fill the void left by Patrik, first only as a temporary replacement over the summer. As it turned out, the atmosphere with Anders in the band was exceptional and all parties wanted a continuation. In August 1999, Anders was offered a permanent position and promptly accepted. His professionalism, easy going and humorous attitude is a welcome addition to the HammerFall ranks. The HF Family was whole again.

Anders is most famous for the work he did in Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force during the latter half of the Eighties, but Anders has participated on over 100 albums throughout his illustrious career. One of them was Billionaires Boys' Club (1993), where the other members were Magnus Rosén, Jörg Fischer and Marc Boals. Along with his brother Jens (of Stratovarius fame), Anders has released many records on their label Heptagon Records, mainly focusing on the fusion side of things, a trait inherited to them by their father, Jan Johansson, a very famous swedish jazz pianist.



The last of the tributes

After doing only two shows with Anders behind the drums, it was time to record yet another tribute song. A Swedish label that was planning a tribute album to Swedish heavy metal had approached the band. Now, how could anyone pass on that opportunity? The choice was easy and would fit HammerFall like a glove: "Run With The Devil" from the 1983 Heavy Load classic "Stronger Than Evil". As now is par for HammerFall and tribute recordings, some of the members of the covered band were asked to do guest appearances. The track was recorded in Thunderload Studio - owned and operated by the Wahlquist brothers (Heavy Load strongmen) - the very same studio "Run With The Devil" was originally recorded in back in 1983. Talk about nostalgia!



Festival Frenzy II, The Templar World Crusade Part Four

For three months, HammerFall made festival appearances virtually every weekend. It started off weird, with a gig in the very north of Sweden, where it still was extremely cold at night. When the band arrived, the ceiling in the tent they were supposed to be playing in was too low for explosives. At this stage, pyrotechnics is an essential part of the bands live performance, wherefore the desicion to remove the ceiling directly above the stage was taken. This had two effects: first, the pyros could be used, and secondly, it was well below the freezing point.The band all had their difficulties in keeping the hands and feet warm enough to move, few things are as hard as playing when you can't feel your fingers! In Offenbach it was too hot, now too cold. Will they ever be satisfied?

Countries such as Spain (Eurometal '99), Italy (Gods Of Metal), Sweden (Sweden Rock Festival, Hultsfredsfestivalen), Denmark (Roskildefestivalen) and Germany (Bang Your Head IV) were visited by HammerFall during the warmer months of the year, culminating with Wacken Open Air in August. The Templar World Crusade was celebrated with an end-of-tour party in Göteborg together with local fun favourites Jävlar Anamma. This concluded ten hectic but fun-filled months of almost non-stop travelling, taking the band through almost twenty countries on four different continents.



Video and single

Nuclear Blast - for reasons unexplained - decided to nix the idea of a Helloween tribute album, but HammerFall already had their version recorded and ready. The band felt that this cooperation between the old and the new in heavy metal was too interesting for the fans to be left forgotten, and so the single "I Want Out" came about. Featuring "At The End Of The Rainbow", "Man On The Silver Mountain" and a multimedia track (the first video of "Glory To The Brave"), the single was intended to be low priced as thanks to the fans for sticking with the band. That was not always the case, however, as middlemen everywhere often saw a way of making some easy cash and priced the single as a mini-CD. Despite that, "I Want Out" did well and got a favourable reception from most who heard it. A HammerFall home video had been in the works for the last six months, and was now finally ready. It was dubbed "The First Crusade", dealing with the period between May 1996 and September 1998. The segments between the video clips were shot on location at the release party for "Legacy Of Kings, which was the last clip featured on the tape. The release has been met with nothing but great reviews and is destined to be followed by a sequel.


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