And yes, that town in World of Warcraft is named after them and the game's art director, Samwise Didier, has made some of the band's album covers.
Members
Current lineup
- Oscar Dronjak - rhythm guitar, backing vocals
- Joacim Cans - lead vocals
- Fredrik Larsson - bass, backing vocals
- Pontus Norgren - lead guitar, backing vocals
- David Wallin - drums
Former members
- Stefan Elmgren - lead guitar
- Magnus Rosén - bass
- Patrik Räfling - drums
- Jesper Strömblad - drums
- Glenn Ljungström - lead guitar
- Mikael Stanne - lead vocals
- Niklas Sundin - lead guitar
- Johan Larsson - bass
- Anders Johansson - drums
Discography
Studio albums
- Glory to the Brave (1997)
- Legacy of Kings (1998)
- Renegade (2000)
- Crimson Thunder (2002)
- Chapter V: Unbent, Unbowed, Unbroken (2005)
- Threshold (2006)
- No Sacrifice, No Victory (2009)
- Infected (2011)
- (r)Evolution (2014)
- Built to Last (2016)
- Dominion (2019)
- Hammer of Dawn (2022)
- Avenge the Fallen (2024)
Live albums
- One Crimson Night (2003)
- Gates of Dalhalla (2012)
- Live! Against the World (2020)
Compilations
- Steel Meets Steel: Ten Years of Glory (2007)
- The Vinyl Single Collection (2008)
- Masterpieces (2008)
Singles
- Glory to the Brave (1997)
- Heeding the Call (1998)
- I Want Out (1999)
- Renegade (2000)
- Always Will Be (2000)
- Hearts on Fire (2002)
- Blood Bound (2005)
- This Fire Burns Forever (2006)
- Natural High (2006)
- Last Man Standing (2007)
- Any Means Necessary (2009)
- My Sharona (2010)
- One More Time (2011)
- B.Y.H. (2011)
- Send Me a Sign (2011)
- Bushido (2014)
- Hector's Hymn (2014)
Music videos
- "Hammerfall" (1997)
- "Glory to the Brave" (1997)
- "Let the Hammer Fall (live)" (1998)
- "I Want Out (feat. Kai Hansen)" (1999)
- "Renegade" (2000)
- "Always Will Be" (2000)
- "Hearts on Fire" (2002)
- "Hearts on Fire" (2002)
- "Blood Bound" (2005)
- "Natural High" (2006)
- "This Fire Burns Forever" (2006)
- "Last Man Standing (Extended Version)" (2007)
- "Any Means Necessary" (2009)
- "A Legend Reborn (live)" (2011)
- "One More Time" (2011)
- "Gates of Dalhalla (live)" (2012)
- "Threshold (live)" (2012)
- "Send Me a Sign (live)" (2012)
- "Hector's Hymn" (2014)
- "The Sacred Vow (Lyric video)" (2016)
- "Hammer High" (2016)
- "Built to Last" (2017)
- "(We Make) Sweden Rock" (2019)
- "(We Make) Sweden Rock (live)" (2019)
- "One Against The World" (2019)
- "Dominion" (2019)
- "Second to One (feat. Noora Louhimo)" (2020)
- "Keep the Flame Burning (live)" (2020)
- "Any Means Necessary (live)" (2020)
- "Templars of Steel (live)" (2021)
- "Renegade (live)" (2021)
- "Hammer of Dawn" (2021)
- "Venerate Me (Visualizer)" (2022)
- "Brotherhood" (2022)
- "Riders of the Storm (Lyric video)" (2023)
- "Crimson Thunder medley" (2023)
The band gives us these examples:
- Atomic F-Bomb: They fit one in their cover of Twisted Sister's "We're Not Gonna Take It", when the pace of the song slows down.
- Audience Participation Song: The anthemic nature of many of this band's songs leads to this occuring often, but a special mention to "Templars of Steel", which includes the lyrics "Raise your fist to the sky!" and Cans often has the audience shout the word "Revolution" in the chorus.
- Badass Boast: The single Bushido is essentially one big, loud, hammy boast from the point of view of an incredibly proficient samurai.
- Chronological Album Title: Chapter V: Unbent, Unbowed, Unbroken is the fifth album of the band.
- Cover Version: Among others, "My Sharona" and "Hallowed Be Thy Name".
- Cover Album: Masterpieces, which contains covers of songs originally performed by Warlord ("Child of the Damned"), Stormwitch ("Ravenlord"), Picture ("Eternal Dark"), Pretty Maids ("Back to Back"), Helloween ("I Want Out"), Rainbow ("Man on the Silver Mountain"), Accept ("Head over Heels"), Heavy Load ("Run with the Devil"), Twisted Sister ("We're Gonna Make It"), Judas Priest ("Breaking the Law"), Chastain ("Angel of Mercy"), Yngwie Malmsteen ("Rising Force"), KISS ("Detroit Rock City"), Loudness ("Crazy Nights"), Roger Pontare ("När Vindarna Viskar Mitt Namn"), Riot ("Flight of the Warrior"), Skid Row ("Youth Gone Wild") and Europe ("Aphasia").
- Creator Cameo: On one live concert they started singing "När Vindarna Viskar Mitt Namn" and in the middle of the song, Roger Pontare the songs creator himself joined in.
- Do Not Go Gentle:
One of the most common interpretations of "At the End of the Rainbow" is that the warriors have already died and this is their heaven. - Grievous Bottley Harm: Cans got a beer bottle broken on his head while visiting a bar once.
- Heel–Face Door-Slam: Discussed in "Last Man Standing". The song is sung by a man who gave up everything and refused to budge in his beliefs, only to now see that he's just about out of time to make things right."Seeing clearer what I've done, I refused to let things go
I could never once admit I'm wrong, and what do I have to show?
Seeing clearer what's at stake, and the things I have to change
I just hope I can, it's not too late to get a chance to end this pain!" - He's Back!: After receiving a lot of flak for not including Hector in the cover of Infected, cue (r)Evolution not only featuring him, but the video for its opening song (being called ''Hector's Hymn'' even), featuring every album cover in the history of Hammerfall that did include him!
- I Am Legion: "Legion" describes the Biblical demon, who's possessed by multiple demons at the same time."My name is Legion, for we are Many Spirits Inside of One."
- Large Ham: Cans has two modes: "Ham" and "Hammier". Oscar goes further with his choice of costumes. It's no coincidence that "Ham" is in the band's very name.
- Lyrical Dissonance: "Natural High" sounds upbeat (like much of their stuff) but is actually about a vampire killing a woman.
- Many Spirits Inside of One: "Legion" is the Trope Namer. It's a song based on the biblical tale of Legion, a man possessed by multiple demons.
- Metal Band Mascot: Sir Hector, a knight wielding a large hammer.
- Metal Scream: Cans is capable of some really high pitched and long ones.
- Mundane Made Awesome: They made a second video for "Hearts on Fire" that starred the Swedish Women's Olympic Curling Team.
- Proud Warrior Race Guy: The main character of Bushido. The whole song is littered with references to how honorable he is.
- Punctuated! For! Emphasis!:
- "Unbent! Unbowed! Unbroken!" from "Fury of the Wild" (Chapter V: Unbent, Unbowed, Unbroken, 2005).
- "Kill! Win! Live! Die!" from "Any Means Necessary" (No Sacrifice, No Victory, 2009).
- All the vocals of "Warriors of Faith" (Legacy of Kings, 1998).
- Samurai: "Bushido" is essentially a "I Am" Song for the entire Samurai concept. So much that its single cover◊ has Hector's armor evoking this trope.
- Shout-Out:
- The song titles contain numerous references to A Song of Ice and Fire - too many to be mere coincidence. For example, "Unbent, Unbowed, Unbroken", part of the title of one of their albums, is also the motto of House Martell with the first two words swapped around. There is also the song titles "Take the Black", which is when somebody joins the Night's Watch, and "Dark Wings, Dark Words" which is an in-universe proverb about messages carried by ravens. Lastly, the song "Winter is Coming" from (r)Evolution contains direct references to the books.
- The song "Renegade" is a power-metal retelling of the setting of the TV series of the same name.
- "No Sacrifice, No Victory" is the title of a track from the Transformers movie score, as well as a line from the movie.
- The song title "Bushido" from (r)Evolution is Japanese for "Way of the Warrior", also a song title from the album Renegade (2000), and the song ends with a Call-Back to "Way of the Warrior".
- Song of Song Titles: "Hector's Hymn", its lyrics not only contain references from the band's previous singles, but also their albums. The music video even features the old album covers as well.
- Start My Own: The singer Joacim Cans has his own solo projects, one under the name Cans that mostly follows the style of Hammerfall, and one under his full name that's more folk inspired and uses Swedish texts.
- War Is Glorious: Hammerfall is just Manowar with even MORE fantastical elements. While Manowar has a 'low fantasy' barbarian theme, Hammerfall has a clanky Knight Templar Sword Brethren theme.
