With brutal honesty, Joacim Cans unveils the behind-the-scenes of the creation of Hammerfall's new album, "Avenge The Fallen". The vocalist explores the pandemic's influence on the creative process, highlighting the importance of resilience and the search for meaning in uncertain times. Additionally, Cans shares insights into the messages behind the lyrics, which range from the importance of individual freedom to the need for strong and inspiring leaders. The musician also reflects on the band's career, its challenges, and its achievements over the years.

 Marcelo Vieira

It was impossible for me not to view "Avenge The Fallen" as a direct result of the pandemic. Could you tell us how this context influenced the writing of the album?

I mean, this album was, I would say, the pandemic album—that was "Hammer Of Dawn". That album was written during the pandemic, recorded during the pandemic, and we also wanted to tour right after the pandemic. But that messed everything up because we were supposed to do this tour with Helloween for six weeks, and no one was ready for a tour like that. So it just got canceled, rebooked, and spread out over, I think, 60 months. And so this album, "Avenge The Fallen", was mainly written during the tour for "Hammer Of Dawn".

Of course, some of the songs—writing music now for Hammerfall is kind of a constant process. We are not sitting down for six months to write songs for a new album. No, whenever creativity hits, we are ready to start recording all these ideas. And that is how Oscar works nowadays. I know he can come off stage when we played in Los Angeles, for instance, with Helloween. He came off stage, took a shower, went directly to the tour bus, and set up his little recording system and his travel guitar because he had some ideas. So, meanwhile, we were partying our asses off backstage, and he was working on the tour bus because he had some ideas he needed to record.

So, I think, with this album, a lot of songs have the energy and joy of being on tour inside the compositions. There are also songs on this album that kind of came into being—the idea of a song like "Hope Springs Eternal" was born already 15 years ago, but it was not ready, you know, to be recorded. It was not ready to be a song until now. Because Oscar said, "You know what? I think I have something here. Can you listen to it and see if you can do something with it?" He sent it over, I listened to it like two times, and then I pressed record and had an idea. What I sang the very first time—most of that is on the album. It's on that song already.

So, it's kind of funny how things work. Some songs you work on for months, even years. Other songs, you work on for six hours and you're done because the song talks to you. You understand the song. You understand what's best for the song, and what you have to add there. I think the whole process of this album, of the songwriting, was really tough this time because this is album number 13. We have already written over 120 songs together, me and Oscar, so where do you go from there? It's really hard to... I would say it's very easy to write 10 songs that are good, but good is not good enough.

For all intents and purposes, is "Avenge The Fallen" a concept album?

It's not a concept album per se, but it's a concept within my thought pattern about the lyrics—that everything concerns the word "freedom". So, this album has a freedom aspect, focusing on the right to live the life that you want to live and be the person that you want to be. This album might require some contemplation, and it might raise some existential questions for the listener if they're open to it. So, I really advise everyone, when you listen to the album, to try and find the lyrics so you can follow along and really understand because I think this can be something positive for the listener. There's also a second word, and that word is "hope". So, this album is all about freedom and hope.

The album starts with 'Avenge The Fallen' and ends with 'Time Immemorial', two tracks that reference the past. What kind of message do you want to convey by placing these songs at the album's extremities?

I think the music is more important than the lyrical themes when you place the songs on an album because you really want to start with a bang and end with something that leaves the listener wanting more. "Time Immemorial", in my opinion, is a different song, but it's still Hammerfall. This intriguing melody for the chorus is just like a fantastic ending, but it leaves you wanting more, and maybe then you go back and listen from the top.

"Avenge The Fallen" starts with a line that says, "What is the worst? Be the one who died, or be the one who survived?" And if people think about that for a little while, that's some heavy stuff because—is it better to be the very last person alive, or is it better actually to go with your friends? So this is kind of a very... Like I said, it has this aspect of... What should I call it? I can't find the word here—the existential thing. And that song is very... If you think about it, as long as you have a voice, if you're the last person alive of your breed, you have two options: either you live your life, do the best you can, and make a difference, or you just give up. You surrender. And at the end of the day, you probably go kill yourself because being alone, with no one to call, with no friends left, that's tough. That's really, really tough.

Regarding the verse "What is the worst? Be the one who died, or be the one who survived?" did you experience this survivor's guilt during the pandemic?

No, but I have seen people around me go through some really, really hard stuff. This happened over 10 years ago now. It was a car accident—there were four girls in the car, and everyone in the car died in the crash, except for the driver. She was the one who survived, but she couldn't take it because she thought she was the reason all her friends died. So, she decided to commit suicide.

Surviving isn't always a blessing; sometimes, it can also be a curse. That's why this line is so important—it really needs to be thought about. I have another friend; he's 75 years old now, and he said, "I really want to call my friends sometimes and ask for advice, but no one is alive anymore. I have no one to call." That's also some tough stuff.

"My kind won't go down without a fight." Here, you seem to acknowledge that the pandemic highlighted the importance of community. What would you say you learned from the pandemic?

As long as you're alive, as long as you have a voice, you should make yourself heard. If you're the last person left, make a difference. Do good things for people. Life is too short for drama—I learned that in the past couple of years. Why go around being miserable? Help people. Be kind to people. A smile doesn't cost anything. If you smile at a person, say hello, and smile, that can mean so much to them. I would say that is what I have learned in the past couple of years. 

Do you think humanity as a whole learned anything?

Unfortunately, no. Absolutely not. Because it's all about greed, and it's all about making everything good for yourself first. It's always "me, me, me" first, and that is not okay. That is not okay at all.

In a world marked by uncertainties, what is the role of perseverance and determination in achieving goals, as suggested by the title of 'The End Justifies'?

I mean, if a goal is morally important enough—"moral", we have to keep that in mind—if it's morally important enough, any method of achieving it is acceptable, I would say. But, if you have to step on people, if you have to hurt people on your way to achieve your goals, then it's morally incorrect. You shouldn't do it.

For Hammerfall, this song is about the band's journey and the strong bonds we have with our fans—that they will have our backs, and we will have theirs. Always. That's just the way it is.

I think Hammerfall has had a clear vision, and a clear goal from day one of where we want to take the band, and we have kept our eye on the prize the whole time. Not bending for anyone telling us, "Why do you play this form of music? You should play this. Why don't you play grunge?" Because we play the music that we want to play—it's as simple as that. And sometimes you have to—not fight this fight, but you have to take some verbal fights about it because you play "uncool" music. But, hey, we're still here, so someone likes it.

In a world that has experienced restrictions on freedom and increased tensions, what reflections do 'Freedom' and 'Rise Of Evil' bring about the concepts of freedom and evil?

First, for freedom—true freedom is being yourself without anyone's permission. It's kind of like, have we not learned anything from the past? Because, as the song says, "Now, what is this? The future or repeated past? Faith instead of reason—it will never last." In the year 2024, shouldn't we rely on science before faith? I mean, faith is just faith; it's nothing. There's no proof because religion messes up so many things.

I have no problem with people being religious and having something they believe in, but faith cannot be the guiding star in your life. We have to follow reason; we have to go with science at all times. And that is what freedom means to me.

"The Rise Of Evil", that song—actually, if you look at the album artwork, I would say that "Rise of Evil" represents the artwork more than the title track. The song is about taking inspiration from both heaven and hell. You need to have dualities in life because if there's a heaven, there has to be a hell. If there's light, you need to have dark. It's all about dualities.

You should take inspiration from wherever you want but always follow your heart when making the final decision. So, Hector smashes the chains holding him down from both sides—from heaven and hell—because he wants to. It symbolizes Hector's ability to go his own way and to make his own decisions in life. And I think that's something we should all do. Listen to people, and take inspiration from what they say and what they do, but at the end of the day, listen to your heart and make your own decisions.

Speaking of listening to the heart and making your own decisions... the pandemic generated a lot of anger and frustration. Is 'Burn It Down' a channel to express these feelings cathartically?

No, I mean, "Burning Down" is a very powerful song. We always try to write songs that are diverse from each other. A full album needs to have a certain type of songs to be complete. If you were to take away one song from this album, the album would not be complete. It's like a puzzle—if you remove one piece, it will not be steady.

Of course, this is really hard to describe because sometimes the album speaks for itself. If you break things down and ask, "What is this song about?" you'll find that everything links into each other. If you understand what I mean.

The aggression in "Burning Down"—I would say that the word "freedom" is there as well. True freedom is always worth defending, and maybe the end justifies the means in this song. Sometimes, you really need to go in with a blast. You need to be aggressive in order to defend something you truly believe in, and that is freedom. If someone wants to take that away from you, you need to defend it.

'Hail To The King' and 'Hero To All' pay tribute to heroes and figures of leadership. Who are these heroes for you?

To me, it would be anyone who stands up and fights for his own beliefs and fights for others. A hero.

Let's see, I need to pull that up here. "Hail To The King" is a song of hope, where hope is reborn when all else is forlorn. It's kind of like no matter how dark the night may be, the sun will always rise and wipe the darkness away. So, "Hail to the King" represents that. There's always Hector in this matter—our mascot, our guy on the artwork. You know, he is that person, I would say. Everything circles around him, more or less.

What is the importance of having them in challenging times like the ones we've lived through?

True. You need to have strong leaders who are fighting for democracy. Nowadays, we see the total opposite. I think that to unite people, you need to be strong, but you also need to be passionate. You need to have a big heart in order to bring people together. You can't divide people; you can't really force them. What we see nowadays is a lot of weird stuff going on, with internal fights within different countries. That's pretty bad.

I think you should be a good leader, a role model to your people, and practice what you preach.

"Honor" and "valor" are repeated throughout the song 'Hail To The King'. Do you think these concepts became more important during the pandemic? Why?

This is something that we have always been talking about in the music and lyrics of Hammerfall. You should live a noble life; you should be valiant and a role model—a positive person. We always try to deliver that, even if it's a song about a very tough subject. There's always something positive in there; it always has to be.

A song by Hammerfall is like an onion. If you peel it and take one layer off, there's something else underneath. Then you take another layer off. Depending on how deep you want to get into the music and the songs, there's always a second layer, a third layer. But it's also up to you to be open-minded when you listen and when you read the lyrics.

Even in difficult times, hope and the pursuit of dreams are essential. How do 'Hope Springs Eternal' and 'Capture The Dream' translate this message?

We have to separate the songs; we can't really bundle any song together with the others because they're so different. "Hope Springs Eternal" raises a very important question about existence and our time on Earth. If it were not for hope, the human heart would break. We are the only species that needs something to look forward to. If you take away hope from a human being, they will just break down. If there's nothing to hope for, there's nothing in that person's life.

The existential part of the song—and also the mantra we should never forget—is: Learn from hope for tomorrow, but life is right here, right fucking now. Period. People keep forgetting about it. If you mention it, yeah, you know, these are simple words, but still, you keep forgetting. So this mantra is something we should never, ever forget, in my opinion.

"Capture The Dream"—we talked about this a little before—is about always looking inside yourself for the answers. You know best what is good for you. If you want to do something, do it. Go out there, capture your dream, follow the beat of your own heart, and live your life like a champion. But pick your battles wisely because sometimes you run into problems, and you can't battle for everything. Sometimes you need to compromise. So, pick your battles wisely.

What ideas or lessons do you hope fans take away from listening to the album?

I think that they don't need to learn anything specific. As I said, this is kind of a reminder that they should be open-minded and pursue their dreams. If people ask me sometimes, "How long will you do this? How long will you be the singer of Hammerfall?" I would say, "As long as it's fun. If it's not fun, I would actually do something else."

I think that if people listen to this album and understand the freedom aspect and the hope aspect, and they find themselves in a very bad position in life, maybe they should do something else. If you hate your job, find a new one. If you're in a bad relationship, end it and move on. There is something out there for you. Just don't be satisfied with a little; always go for something bigger. Maybe you won't reach the stars, but if you end up on the moon, hey, you're halfway there. At least it's something. 

What is Hammerfall's secret to staying creative and relevant after 13 studio albums?

The joy of playing the music that we want to play and playing the music that we always play—that is heavy metal music to us. It's as close to the truth as we can come. And having fun together, like I said, if you're in a bad place, if you don't like this form of music, you can't fake it. You cannot fake heavy metal. Either you have it, or you don't.

Would you say you've achieved everything you dreamed of in your music career?

Absolutely not. In that case, it could only go down. There are always new territories you want to play in, and there are always venues you want to play. So, no, absolutely not. I have achieved a lot. Let's say if my career were to end tomorrow, I would be happy because I have experienced so many good things in my career. Hey, I couldn't ask for more, but I still have bigger dreams.

What is still missing?

The dream is still to do a world tour where, wherever you go, you play in venues that allow you to come in with your full production. That way, every fan, no matter where they live in the world, will get the same show. That is my dream.

What do you enjoy doing when you're not playing or writing music?

I'm running a lot, and exercising to stay in shape and to be able to perform better and be a better singer and performer. I drink a lot of wine, not as an alcoholic, but I'm actually a trained sommelier, so I'm a wine expert—at least on paper. That is my interest. I also watch TV and hang out with friends, like everyone else, I think.

Can you draw a parallel between this and singing in a metal band?

No, not at all. But I need the running to be able to sing and perform at the level where I am right now.

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Video version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUknZAyS9jg