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Horndal will release their new record Head Hammer Man on April 5, and is now streaming the more melodic single “Calling: Labor”. The single comes alongside a music video created by the Stockholm Film School and Anders Rune, and edited by Viggo Johnsson.
“People might consider Horndal to be a doom, death, thrash, or whatever type of metal band,” said Horndal drummer Pontus Levahn. “But honestly, anyone who says they don’t like Judas Priest or Thin Lizzy is either lying or an imbecile. Or both.
“‘Calling: Labor’ is about the story’s hero being forced into exile from little Horndal in Sweden to America, and what he stated during the interrogation at the emigration office at Ellis Island, New York. He wanted nothing more than a job and later became the Head Hammer Man at Columbia Steel in Chicago. What have you ever done? I surely did nothing but steal riffs from Mercyful Fate. Hail to the Head Hammer Man!”
Pre-orders for Head Hammer Man are available here. As for the concept behind Head Hammer Man, it’s pretty complex! Horndal describes it as a story surrounding union leader Alrik Andersson, the eviction of metalworkers in the village of Horndal, and Andersson’s eventual forced migration to the United States.
“This album is about the unsung hero Alrik Andersson and the dramatic events in Horndal during the Great Strike in Sweden in 1909. Six months before the strike, Alrik Andersson, a 27-year-old metalworker from Horndal, is chosen as the union leader. He finds himself in the eye of the storm and is forced to take a stand on the barricades for the sake of his members, struggling with lockouts, scabs and greedy officials.
“When the manager of the Horndal factory starts evicting the unionized workers from their homes, leading to famine and starvation, sympathetic workers from far away rush to Horndal to stop the harassment. The military arrives in Horndal and the country teeters on the brink of civil war. Eventually, the King and the Prime Minister forbid the manager of the Horndal Steel Mill from evicting the workers and instead order their reinstatement.
“As a result, Alrik Andersson is blacklisted all over Sweden and can’t find work anywhere. Faced with continued harassment, he is forced in exile and emigrates to America. In 1910, he, his wife, and their young sons make their dangerous journey across the Atlantic, where he eventually finds work in Chicago as the Head Hammer Man. This album is dedicated to Alrik Andersson. Hail to the Head Hammer Man!”
