After taking a creative break last year, Swedish metallers HAMMERFALL are fully recharged and back with a vengeance. The band's new album, "(r)Evolution", will be released on August 29 in Europe and September 2 in North America via Nuclear Blast. With "(r)Evolution", HAMMERFALL takes things back to the roots in many ways, as the band once again worked with producer Fredrik Nordström, who helmed HAMMERFALL's two milestone releases "Glory To The Brave" and "Legacy Of Kings" during the group's early years and thus played a major part in the development of HAMMERFALL. The music for "(r)Evolution" was recorded in March and April at guitarist Oscar Dronjak's Castle Black Studios. Singer Joacim Cans then went to the United States for vocal recordings, once again working with James Michael (SCORPIONS, MÖTLEY CRÜE), who previously collaborated with HAMMERFALL on "Infected". The album was mixed and mastered by Fredrik Nordström and Henrik Udd at Studio Fredman. "(r)Evolution" represents yet another reunion of sorts for HAMMERFALL, who hired cover artist Andreas Marschall, the "father" of HAMMERFALL's mascot Hector, to design the artwork for the new CD. The first single from "(r)Evolution", "Bushido", will be released on July 18 digitally as well as on vinyl. The song sums up the band and its history perfectly, seeing as "bushido" means "the way of the warrior" in Japanese. "(r)Evolution" track listing: 01. Hector's Hymn 02. (r)Evolution 03. Bushido 04. Live Life Loud 05. Ex Inferis 06. We Won't Back Down 07. Winter Is Coming 08. Origins 09. Tainted Metal 10. Evil Incarnate 11. Wildfire HAMMERFALL's "Gates Of Dalhalla" DVD entered the Swedish Music DVD chart at position No. 4. The set also landed on the German Music DVD chart at No. 6. "Gates Of Dalhalla" was released as a DVD+2CD and Blu-ray+2CD on November 30, 2012 via Nuclear Blast. The set features the band's extraordinary 135-minute 15th-anniversary show that took place on July 28, 2012 on the historic open-air stage Dalhalla, built in an old quarry near the small Swedish village Rättvik. The footage was captured by Swedish director Patric Ullaeus of the Revolver Film Company AB, who has previously worked with IN FLAMES, DIMMU BORGIR, EUROPE and LACUNA COIL, among many others. Special guests during the concert included original HAMMERFALL members Jesper Strömblad (IN FLAMES) and Mikael Stanne (DARK TRANQUILLITY), as well as ex-HAMMERFALL guitarist Stefan Elmgren. HAMMERFALL's last album, "Infected", sold around 1,700 copies in the United States in its first week of release. The CD debuted at No. 16 on the Top New Artist Albums (Heatseekers) chart, which lists the best-selling albums by new and developing artists, defined as those who have never appeared in the Top 100 of The Billboard 200.
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