The catching-your-breath period
As things settled down, the members ejoyed spending time with their families, while the song writing for the next album began. During fall and winter, such tracks as "Living In Victory" and "Destined For Glory" was churned out, but it wasn't until a creative/vacation trip to the Canary Islands when the process was sped up. Down there, such soon-to-be HammerFall classics as "Templars Of Steel" and "Renegade" were finished. A preproduction in JM Studio, where Stefan used to work, was recorded to get a better grip on how the tracks should be laid out in the studio.


The all-important third album
Meanwhile, arrangements had been made to work with legendary producer Michael Wagener (Accept, Ozzy Osbourne, Skid Row, Alice Cooper and many, many more) for the next recording session, to keep continuing to improve the band's sound. Working with Fredrik Nordström had been a great experience, but there was an unspoken mutual feeling that both sides had reached as far in their working relationship as they would come at this point in time. In order to shake things up and avoid taking the easy and familiar way out, the band opted to venture new pastures in Nashville, Tennessee, the home of Wagner and his WireWorld Studios. Some amazing eight weeks later, "Renegade" was finshed and ready to be unleashed onto the world. The recordings in Nashville went exceptionally smooth and due to the awesome atmosphere in the studio this was a very non-stressed recording.


Doubts from the outside
"Renegade" was met with some unwarranted sceptisism because of Michael's Wagener's involvement and the mistrust of people within the industry who obviously didn't believe in the band's ability to deliver. Even Nuclear Blast, who had stood so firmly behind HammerFall ever since the first recording, displayed a certain amount of initial sceptisism towards the new release. That didn't affect the promotion going into the launch, as it was the biggest so far for both band and label. Granted, "Renegade" didn't sound like a carbon copy of the previous outings, but that was the whole point: to break away from the established mold and create something new. Hopefully better, definitely not worse - but decidedly different.


Video clip, TV break-through
During the summer months, HammerFall and director Roger Johansson together with brilliant video production company Tussilago, had recorded a promotional clip for what had been altered at the last second into the first single from "Renegade", the song with the same title (previously, "Templars Of Steel" was peged as the single). It had a major effect on TV-audiences all over Sweden when aired on the chart show Voxpop. Beating out Eminem, Madonna, Magnus Uggla (legendary Swedish pop phenomenom selling over 100,000 albums regularly), "Renegade" was voted #1 an ultimate three weeks in a row. Iron Maiden had done the same thing with "Out Of The Silent Planet" about six months before, but it still came as a surprise to virtually everyone - the band included - when HammerFall repeated that metal triumph. This whole incident clearly showed that there was a need for metal on TV since the charts were 100% decided by fans phoning in. Despite this it would take several years before producers would really take notice. Not even the season finale of Voxpop, where HammerFall and Iron Maiden cleaned house by occupying spots #1 and 2, served as a wake up call to those in charge. The people had spoken, but it would take a while before those in charge would listen.


Launch is spelled s-u-c-c-e-s-s
Early rumblings were that "Renegade" would chart high in Sweden, potentially as high as Top 3. This belief manifested itself quickly in the Swedish distributors' minds, but was a bit harder for the band to evnision, choosing the pessimistic route rather than the optimistic so as not to be disappointed. The signing tour through Sweden helped facilitate this dream a little, however, as it was a resounding success with lines of fans stretching around the corners of the building in every city. Sure enough, as the chart positions for week 42 were released by GLF, HammerFall trounced on top of that list with Madonna, Mark Knopfler, Eminem and all others safely underneath. To celebrate this monumental and historic event for band and label alike, the Swedish distributors MNW wanted to release another single, "Always Will Be". A video was quickly recorded one November night in an industrial area in Göteborg, using mainly the same crew as last time. Directed by Roger Johansson, this clip featured the band performing and acting as vampires with a beautiful computer animated intro signed Tussilago of a bat majestically sweeping in over the New York skyline. As good as the video was, everything was a bit rushed to get the record out before Christmas, resulting in a somewhat forgettable release.

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