''Glory to the Brave'' is the debut album by the Swedish heavy metal band

HammerFall HammerFall is a Swedish power metal band from Gothenburg. The band was formed in 1993 by ex-Ceremonial Oath guitarist Oscar Dronjak. History Early days (1993–1996) HammerFall was formed when rhythm guitarist Oscar Dronjak quit Ceremonial ...

, released in 1997. Despite the fact that the band was formed in 1993, HammerFall performed mostly live music and covers before this album was released. "Steel Meets Steel" was composed by

Oscar Dronjak Oscar Fredrick Dronjak (born 20 January 1972) is a Swedish guitarist and founder of the heavy metal band HammerFall. Prior to the success of HammerFall, he also played and released albums with the death metal acts Ceremonial Oath and Crystal A ...

just before the band was formed and is included on this album. The band signed a deal with the Dutch label Vic Records.

Nuclear Blast Nuclear Blast is a record label and mail order record distributor with subsidiaries in Germany, the United States and Brazil. The label was founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in Germany. Originally releasing hardcore punk records, the label mov ...

approached Vic Records and obtained a license deal for the album. Later, Nuclear Blast bought the entire rights from Vic Records. Although the

In Flames In Flames is a Swedish heavy metal band, formed by guitarist Jesper Strömblad in Gothenburg in 1990. Alongside At the Gates and Dark Tranquillity, In Flames pioneered the genres known as Swedish death metal and melodic death metal. During t ...

guitarist

Jesper Strömblad Clas Håkan Jesper Strömblad (born 28 November 1972) is a Swedish musician who is the guitarist of the bands The Halo Effect, Dimension Zero and Cyhra, and formerly of In Flames and The Resistance. He is best known as the founder and former ...

was listed as the drummer, all the drums were actually played by session musician Patrik Räfling, who joined the band as a full-time member shortly after the album's release. The cover art was painted by Andreas Marschall. "I Believe" was co-written with

Peter Stålfors Dream Evil is a Swedish heavy metal band, assembled by producer Fredrik Nordström in 1999. History Producer Fredrik Nordström had the ambition of creating a power metal band of his own for a long time, but had difficulty finding anyone ...

Pure X Pure may refer to: Computing * A pure function * A pure virtual function * PureSystems, a family of computer systems introduced by IBM in 2012 * Pure Software, a company founded in 1991 by Reed Hastings to support the Purify tool * Pure-FTPd, F ...

and, later, the more famous

Dream Evil Dream Evil is a Swedish heavy metal band, assembled by producer Fredrik Nordström in 1999. History Producer Fredrik Nordström had the ambition of creating a power metal band of his own for a long time, but had difficulty finding anyone ...

. ''Glory to the Brave'' was re-released in 2002 as a Deluxe Edition with the

Stormwitch Stormwitch is a German Heavy metal music, heavy metal band from Heidenheim an der Brenz, Heidenheim, Baden Württemberg, Germany, formed in 1981. They have been called "The Masters of Black Romantic" by their fans. The band's song lyrics often f ...

cover "Ravenlord" as a bonus track as well as a multimedia section including a music video.

Critical reception

In 2005, ''Glory to the Brave'' was ranked number 295 in ''Rock Hard'' magazine's book of ''The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time''. In 2020, it was named one of the 20 best metal albums of 1997 by ''

Metal Hammer ''Metal Hammer'' is a heavy metal music magazine and website founded in 1983, published in the United Kingdom by Future, with other language editions available in numerous other countries. ''Metal Hammer'' features news, reviews and long-form ...

'' magazine.

Track listing

An eleventh track on the enhanced CD (bonus deluxe edition) contained multimedia content: a videoclip, wallpaper and e-card "Ravenlord" was released on the Japanese, Brazilian and deluxe editions. Special editions: LP, Shape CD (Saw-Shaped), Picture LP, Red Vinyl LP, Deluxe Edition (containing bonus material), Value Box (with "Renegade" CDs)

Personnel

Joacim Cans Joacim Cans (born 19 February 1970 in Mora) is a Swedish singer, best known as the lead vocalist of heavy metal band HammerFall. He is the only member aside from founder and guitarist Oscar Dronjak to appear on all of the band's albums. Cans at ...

– lead vocals, background harmonies *

– guitars, backing vocals *Fredrik Larsson – bass, backing vocals *

Glenn Ljungström Glenn Ljungström (born 7 September 1974) is a Swedish co-guitarist from Nödinge-Nol, for a band called The Resistance, since 2011. He was also an ex-guitarist and composer in a few other Swedish bands. He was most notably in heavy metal band ...

– guitars *

– drums (writing credit only) *Patrik Räfling – drums

References

External links

Official HammerFall websiteHammerFall - Glory to the Brave
{{Authority control 1997 debut albums HammerFall albums Nuclear Blast albums Albums recorded at Studio Fredman Albums produced by Fredrik Nordström