HammerFall

HammerFall
HammerFall at the Masters of Rock in 2007. From right to left: Magnus Rosén, Joacim Cans, Anders Johansson, Oscar Dronjak, and touring member Stefan Elmgren
Background information
Origin	Gothenburg, Sweden
Genres	Heavy metal, power metal, speed metal
Years active	1993-present
Labels	Napalm Records,Nuclear Blast
Associated acts	Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force, In Flames, Dark Tranquillity, Ceremonial Oath, Cans, Full Force, Lost Horizon, Dionysus, Blind Guardian, Helloween
Website	hammerfall.net
Members	Oscar Dronjak Fredrik Larsson Joacim Cans Pontus Norgren Johan Kolberg
Past members	Jesper Strömblad Mikael Stanne Niklas Sundin Johan Larsson Glenn Ljungström Stefan Elmgren Magnus Rosén Anders Johansson Patrik Räfling David Wallin

HammerFall is a Swedish heavy metal band from Gothenburg, Sweden. The band was formed in 1993 by ex-Ceremonial Oath guitarist Oscar Dronjak.

HammerFall was formed when guitarist Oscar Dronjak quit Ceremonial Oath and invited Jesper Strömblad (from In Flames) to join him as a drummer in a new musical project he had been contemplating for some time. Dronjak had already composed the song "Steel Meets Steel," which was later included on HammerFall's debut album. Dronjak and Strömblad were later joined by guitarist Niklas Sundin, bassist Johan Larsson, and vocalist Mikael Stanne. When Niklas Sundin and Johan Larsson left HammerFall the following year, Glenn Ljungström (then guitarist of In Flames) and Fredrik Larsson (bassist of the former Swedish death metal band Dispatched), replaced them.

All five members played in other bands at the time. Dronjak and Larsson played in Crystal Age; Strömblad and Ljungström played in In Flames and Stanne sang for Dark Tranquillity. Both of these bands influenced Swedish melodic death metal. HammerFall was relegated to being a side project of them all for several years. Their concerts were limited mostly to a local music contest named Rockslaget. The band had few songs of their own and played mostly covers from bands such as Pretty Maids, Judas Priest and Alice Cooper.