1997. Metal had just started gaining more attention once again after being in a silent mode because of this virus called “grunge”. Dozens of bands jump out of every corner of planet earth, ready to give to the fans different kinds of metal notes, who were hungry for music, hungry for pure heavy metal. Many debut albums, much new material, a big variety of good music mostly. Some of them burst out like napalm bombs, annihilating everything. A fossilized forest on the cover and a pale-faced man striding his whistle, ready to smash it all. We are of course talking about Hammerfall. Those Swedish guys who had started as a group project among Oscar Dronjak, Jesper Stromblad, Niklas Sundin, Mikael Stanne, appeared under the name Rockslaget in 1996 in a local music contest where they had their chance. After being stuck behind because of Mikael, they recruited Joacin Kans as their official lead vocalist. The rest is history. A piece of history written in 1997, when Nuclear Blast, giving them the opportunity to sign a contract for 4 records. ‘Glory to the Brave’ then became a reality. After having sold a hundred thousand albums and receiving the Grammy awards as the Best Swedish Band, real fame was quite near. It’s 2017 and the fans haven’t realized yet the therion of their debut 20 years ago. This debut marked a new path for power metal. So, fresh and complete with its own character, standing as a boulder in the heavy metal scene, building its own wall protecting heavy metal and making it clear that it is still alive and has much more to give (see the self-titled and Metal Age). ‘Glory To The Brave’ made it to the top. It was loved and sung more than any other debut of a new power metal band of the 90’s, making it clear to the fans that it is actually “aenaon” and that Sweden had just gained her own spot among the Gods of power metal, including others. On its own, it is an achievement when, in the year of 1997, albums such as Bruce Dickinson’s ‘Accident Of Birth’ had just been released, as well as Fates Warning’s ‘A Pleasant Shade of Grey’, Gamma Ray’s ‘Somewhere out in Space’, Judas Priests ‘Jugulator’, Kreator’s ‘Outcast’, Megadeth’s ‘Cryptic Writings’, ‘Visions’ from Stratovarius, Symphony X’s ‘Divine Wings of Tragedy’ and many more. I can clearly remember that two were the two-bit debuts of this era, this and Rhapsody’s Legendary Tales. Being in a very young age, we couldn’t make out which one was the best, but history made it clear that undoubtedly Glory To The Brave, 20 years after, had brought so many people together. Although there are many influences from bands such as Manowar, Warlord, Judas Priest, Accept and Helloween, as previously mentioned the album had its own character music wise. Full of melodies, sharp storming riffs and special solos, Hammerfall combined some of our favorite bands. Drums that give the right volume to the disc, vocals that kneel in the atmosphere melodicity and melancholy, and on the other, they are exciting delicate notes, quick playing and catchy reprints. It was 20 years ago when it became a thing, where all the new groups of the genre stopped and lit on a candle to its creating. During the band’s journey, there were worthy long-range discs for the scene, but no one reached the glory of ‘Glory to the Brave’ … the album was not overcome yet. No one could get the feeling of ‘I Believe’ and the title. No one could reach the spirit of ‘The Dragon Lies Bleeding’, ‘Unchained’, ‘The Metal Age’, ‘Steel Meets Steel’, or can stand next to the ultimate cover on Warlord’s ‘Child of the Damned’! 20 years later and Hector is still standing there as the same great man I looked at the album, as if not a single day had passed.
It was June 27, 1997 when Hammerfall wrote history.