Interview by Kris Peters
There isn't much Swedish metal royalty Hammerfall have failed to accomplish in their almost 30-year existence. With multiple international tours, gold certification, a succession of powerful and well-received albums, 100+ million streams and YouTube views and a passionate global fanbase, you would almost wonder if there's anything left to tick off the band's proverbial bucket list. But there is one glaring omission.
Hammerfall have never done a full tour of Australia…
That terrible blot on an otherwise stellar career will be rectified in January of next year when Hammerfall venture to this side of the world for five shows that see them play in every capital city this great country has to offer.
Not only that, but Hammerfall are also on the cusp of releasing their 13th and arguably best album yet, Avenge The Fallen, on August 9. With so much going on for the band, HEAVY cornered guitarist Oscar Dronjak to find out why Hammerfall have neglected Australia until this point and plenty more.
"We're very excited about this," he smiled. "We only did one show there in 27 years of existence, so it's gonna be fucken cool. Every time we do a new album we do press in Australia and everybody is asking when are you coming back? We never had anything to say about it, but finally now we do and it seems like it's… I have heard from friends of mine in bands who have been there and say it's great. Everybody wonders why don't you go there? I have no good answer for that, only the fact that we are going now, so that's enough. We've been all over the world for the most part, except Australia. It should have happened before (laughs)."
We ask Oscar if he will be doing any research before he comes out here on what to expect, or if he is more the type of person who prefers to go in cold and see what happens.
"We've been there once - it was nine years ago now I think - and that was a good experience," he replied. "If that is anything to go by, I think we're going to have a really good time at the shows. Ultimately - and this is my experience from touring all over the world - but ultimately heavy metal fans are more or less the same all over the world. They just wanna go to the show, be entertained, have a good time, listen to some great music, and watch a good show. That's all they wanna do. Hopefully, drink some beers too (laughs). If that is the attitude - which I believe it is - we're gonna have a really good time."
In the full interview, Oscar talks more about the tour and what we can expect from Hammerfall, what planets must align for the band to walk off-stage and be blown away, their upcoming album Avenge The Fallen and what to expect, how the band keeps improving with each album cycle, their recent tour with Helloween and more.