As previously reported, F5 / ex-MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson issued a HAIL! Scandinavian tour update featuring DIMMU BORGIR guitarist Silenoz' performance with the band in Jevnaker, Norway (click here). He has since posted a full tour blog dating back to August 29th. It is available below.

HAIL! is composed of Ellefson, Ripper Owens (ex-JUDAS PRIEST, YNGWIE MALMSTEEN), Roy Mayorga (STONE SOUR) and Andreas Kisser (SEPULTURA).

Hail - Scandinavian Tour Blog, September 2009

"It’s August 29, and HAIL! is set to plunder with the Vikings and Norsemen across Scandinavia for the next weeks. We all arrived in Norway’s northern city of Trondheim on Sunday August 30. Ripper, Abba and I flew from the USA while Andreas came up from Oporto, Portugal where he played a festival with Sepultura the night before.

New to the outfit on this tour is our friend and skins man Roy Mayorga, now of the famed group STONE SOUR. I first saw Roy play with SOULFLY on OZZFEST 98. His hair was red and he was a ball of fury behind the drums. Today, his hair isn’t red, but his playing is still the ball of fury it ever was. It’s good to have him on board this month. He came over from Glasgow, Scotland where he was recording in weeks prior with punk legends AMEBIX.

Norway is my fatherland, originally spelled ‘Elevsen’ and traced back to the late 1600s. Our promoter Havard ('Howard' to us Americans) gave me and Abba a factual tour of the city, informing us the Trondheim airport is technically in the city called HELL. Now, we can officially say 'We’ve been through hell and back!'"

August 31st, Day 1 - Rehearsal

"We spent seven hours rehearsing the set today with Roy. We were in an old WWII submarine bunker in Trondheim, built by the Germans back in that day. Apparently, the place was built so well built that they can’t even destroy it with dynamite without completely ruining the entire downtown area of Trondheim! However, the inside was nice and remodeled and sounded good for our first time playing with Roy. The chap certainly did his homework and is going to bring some good mosh-ability and punk rock chops to HAIL! this month."

Afterward, the promoter took us to his family’s house for a wonderful dinner of whale and salmon. With Marty Freidman’s solo album peacefully offering us subtle background music, we had a wonderful meal and received some amazing Norwegian hospitality."

Go to this location for the rest of the tour blog.

The band's Scandinavian tour schedule is now as follows:

September

6 - Feelgood - Halden, Norway
7 - The Rock - Copenhagen, Denmark
8 - Voxhall - Aarhus, Denmark
10 - Dante’s Highlight - Helsinki, Finland
11 - Wasteland - Gavle, Sweden
12 - Klubben - Stockholm, Sweden

HAIL! continues to spread it’s word of metal unity to the farthest reaches of the globe. New tour dates for a December tour of Lebanon, Cyprus, Turkey, Bulgaria, Czech Republic and Russia are being rumored and an announcement is expected soon.

Further updates to follow.