Today, HammerFall proudly announce their 13th studio album, Avenge The Fallen, which will be released on August 9 via Nuclear Blast Records.

That’s right, less than a year after taking the final bow of the “United Forces” tour, the quintet of guitarist Oscar Dronjak, singer Joacim Cans, bass player Fredrik Larsson, guitarist Pontus Norgen, and drummer David Wallin are back with ten brand new solid pieces of classic heavy metal.

“This is our 13th album”, Joacim Cans says with pride. “How do you still stay relevant after 13 albums? It’s very much like the opening line to the song 'Avenge The Fallen': “What is the worst, be the one who died, or be the one who survived.” Think about it, because it is a tough question”.

He continues, “Do we want to be a band who releases new music just for the sole reason of getting out on the road again or do we want to keep pushing and challenging ourselves? In times where people have less and less attention span, we still think in the form of full length albums. A few good songs don’t make a strong album. A strong album comes from an album full a great songs and that’s what we’re delivering with Avenge The Fallen.”

To give a taste of what awaits the fans, the band unleashes the first single and video, "Hail To The King". A song that was born on the road....

“I began working on 'Hail To The King' while on tour in the US with Helloween”, Oscar Dronjak recalls. “By the end of the tour, I was getting close to wrapping the song up, so straight after the Los Angeles gig I headed to the bus where I worked like a mad man to get the last pieces together. That turned out to be the show where one of my favourite wrestlers, Chris Jericho, came to visit. It was also the show where Fredrik met his idol Frank Bello from Anthrax and Joacim met Jay Ruston, producer for Armored Saints, Avatar, Anthrax, Corey Taylor and more and whom after this meeting agreed to produce the vocals for 'Avenge The Fallen'! I missed all that, but I at least got a great song out of it, haha!”

Check out the video below, stream the track here.

Avenge The Fallen comes in following formats:

- CD Jewel Case
- CD Digipack w/signed poster
- 1 LP Gatefold Gold Vinyl
- 1 LP Gatefold Purple Vinyl
- 1LP Gatefold, Splatter Vinyl (Sweden Rock Exclusive)

Pre-order here.

Tracklisting:

"Avenge The Fallen"
"Burn It Down"
"Capture The Dream"
"Hail To The King"
"Hero To All"
"Hope Springs Eternal"
"Rise Of Evil"
"The End Justifies"
"Time Immemorial"

"Hail To The King" video:

Find HammerFall's live itinerary here.

Lineup:

Joacim Cans - vocals
Oscar Dronjak - guitar
Fredrik Larsson  - bass
Pontus Norgen - guitar
David Wallin – drums