The Swedish power metal band HammerFall Helloween Brazil, with two shows in São Paulo on October 8th and 9th at Espaço Unimed. With 29 years of career and 12 studio albums released, the band has become a major icon of Swedish heavy metal and was one of the main forces behind the resurgence of traditional heavy metal in the late 90s.
The last time HammerFall was in Brazil was in 2017, promoting the album Built To Last (2017). In an interview with Wikimetal , vocalist Joacin Cans spoke about what fans can expect from the new shows in Brazil and hinted that the performance shouldn't contain any major surprises, but that good quality is a priority.
“When we’re on tour, we always try to give our best performance. There are people who paid to see you, and maybe that’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so you always need to deliver your best performance,” he says. “I think the shows with Helloween are the ultimate heavy metal package for true metal fans. It’s like seeing the masters and pupils on tour together because Helloween meant a lot to HammerFall early in our career. Now we’re all good friends. We’re a group of friends working towards the same goal.”
For fans expecting older songs on the setlist or multiple tracks from a single album, Joacin points out that there won't be much room for nostalgia. As an opening act, HammerFall will have a slightly shorter set, ending in an hour, and the group had to make a smart selection that included audience favorites, the band's own favorites, and also tracks from their most recent album, Hammer of Dawn (2022).
“There will always be someone complaining, saying things like 'I want to hear songs from the first album', 'I want to hear songs from Crimson Thunder ', but in 60 minutes we manage to play, if we're lucky, 13 songs, and our discography has 12 albums, so it's difficult to please everyone. But I believe we have the perfect mix of new and old songs,” he comments.
Despite HammerFall being about to turn 30, Joacin states that the band isn't planning any celebrations for 2023 so as not to interrupt the promotional cycle for the album Hammer of Dawn . Because they are a power metal band and allude to a kind of mythological hammer, both in the album title and the band's name, some people associate the universe created by HammerFall with Norse mythology, which led Joacin to include a song that refutes this notion.
“Actually, we don’t have anything to do with Norse mythology on this album. The song ‘No Son of Odin’ kind of departs from that because many people think or thought that Hector – the warrior we have on all the covers – is Norse or a figure similar to Thor, or that the hammer is Thor’s hammer. And it’s not, not at all. So I needed to write a song that said: ‘I am not a son of Odin. My name is Hector and the name of the hammer is Hammer of the Dawn.’”
Released in February, Hammer Of Dawn addresses many reflective questions about becoming aware of one's own mortality – a realization that Joacin Cans believes hit him with the sudden arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic. Reflecting on the mortality – or immortality – of heavy metal itself, he says he believes the genre will never die because loyal fans will continue listening to bands of the past, even in old age. On the other hand, he acknowledges that the future of metal cannot be placed entirely in the hands of older generations:
“It depends on the new generation because nowadays it’s very difficult for young people to find music like heavy metal because it’s not on the radio, it’s not in the newspapers. They have to be more adventurous and go looking for it. So it’s our responsibility to this new generation to show them that there is a genre called heavy metal. This is a musical genre available to everyone. It doesn’t matter what you look like, whether you have short or long hair, whether you’re white or black, heavy metal is for everyone.”
With the recent popularity of the hard rock band Måneskin Metallica 's success Stranger Things audience , it's clear that the younger generation is still interested in heavier music genres. In our column on Omelete , we discussed how metal has become a growing genre on the TikTok , which could introduce other names to new audiences.
Joacin agrees, “I think it’s great that a band like Metallica is part of something like Stranger Things because it opens a door for people who have no idea what hard rock or heavy metal is. It’s a way for them to know that there’s a whole new world to explore.”
With 30 years of history and a greater focus on traditional metal, HammerFall hasn't yet seen its name go viral on social media or among younger audiences, but its importance in metal is undeniable, and for Joacin Cans, knowing that the band's history is recognized as significant in the scene is what matters most.
“Hammerfall played a very important role in bringing back traditional heavy metal in the late 90s and I think that’s part of the legacy we left behind,” he reflects. “That’s what makes me most proud and I think that when people think about the return of traditional melodic heavy metal, Hammerfall will always be there. We didn’t become the biggest band in the world, but we became a very important part and as long as we’re at least a small part of that story, that’s enough for me. I don’t make music to become famous. I make music because that’s what I love.”
Tickets for the Helloween show with HammerFall opening are available via Ticket360 .
