Today, Swedish saviours of heavy metal HAMMERFALL have released their new single, ‘Venerate Me’, featuring a special guest appearance by the legendary King Diamond. The track is the second taken from their twelfth studio album, Hammer of Dawn, set for release on 25 February via Napalm Records.
You can preorder Hammer of Dawn here.
Expectedly, singer Joacim Cans doesn’t fail to leave a mark with his gripping vibrato and ever-powerful vocal projection that – in combination with strong guitar work and on-point drumming – make ‘Venerate Me’ an outstanding yet trademark Hammerfall hymn.
You can watch the video to ‘Venerate Me’ right here.
Founding member and guitarist Oscar Dronjak commented: “The second single is here, and I’m very, very proud of it! The music was written during the darkest, most uninspiring days of the pandemic and still came out as one of the strongest on the whole album. Joacim’s fantastic lyric idea makes this track really stand out, and the special guest appearance towards the end really pushes it over the edge!”
Singer Joacim Cans adds: “The song is overloaded with enchanting melodies and a very catchy chorus. Lyrically one of my greatest efforts dealing with the fact that we die twice! First when we take our last breath and second when someone says your name for the last time. Say my name and I will never die!”
‘Venerate Me’ marks a special anniversary – Oscar Dronjak’s 50th birthday! Hammerfall guitarist has dedicated most of his 50 years to the metal scene, starting as a teenage guitarist in death metal bands and emerging as one of the most known guitarists in the world of heavy metal today, with his trademark sound and legendary hammer guitar.
‘Venerate Me’ follows the first single ‘Hammer of Dawn’, and you can watch the video for that track here.
As one of the main forces in heavy metal, Hammerfall have dominated not only the Swedish album charts, but album charts across Europe throughout their extensive career, while earning gold status thrice. Faced with the daunting task of following up the band’s last studio album, Dominion, a record that fans and critics hailed as one of the band’s strongest releases, Hammerfall collectively met the challenge head on and have delivered what many early listeners are predicting as the best metal album of 2022, and a high point of the band’s catalogue.
