Horndal announce new album ‘Head Hammer Man’ and share lead single ‘Blacklisted’

Sweden’s HORNDAL has today announced they’ll be releasing their third album, titled Head Hammer Man, on April 5 via Prosthetic Records. Alongside the album announcement HORNDAL has shared the lead single and music video, Blacklisted, which premiered via Swedenrock Magazine. On the self-proclaimed rusty metal band’s latest full-length the band share the previously untold real life story of Alrik Andersson, a 1900s union leader from their eponymous hometown and his role in The Great Strike. The captivating tale of Andresson will also see a book written by HORNDAL to accompany the album – with further details to be revealed.

Stream Blacklisted via Apple Music, TIDAL, Deezer, Bandcamp and Spotify
Pre-order Head Hammer Man here.

Speaking on the album announcement, HORNDAL comments:

“This is by far our our most ambitious album, both musically and lyrically. We started with two questions: 1. Can you make a metal album with sounds inspired by 60’s jazz drummers? Apparently! 2. Can that album fit the untold story about when events in our rusted hometown almost started a civil war in Sweden? No, you have to write a book too. So we did.”

Of Blacklisted, the band adds:

“When the violent Great Strike in 1909 was over, our unsung hero had managed to save his fellow workers jobs and livelihood. But not his own. He was blacklisted all over Sweden and was forced into exile. He fled over the Atlantic with his wife and young children. The music is as heavy and bleak as the lyrics. Even though there is a riff stolen from Sparks in there. You gotta love Sparks.”

Horndal, Sweden, 1909.
The Great Strike rages across the entire country. Local union uprisings are crushed one by one. But a small group stands defiant – the ironworkers of Horndal. A group led by 27-year-old Alrik Andersson.

The steel company’s struggle against the striking workers had led to starvation, famine and mass evictions of families – and was on the brink of sparking a civil war. Workers from all over the country traveled in solidarity to Horndal to fight alongside the unionized, against the Swedish military, who had been sent there with bayonets drawn. To avoid starting a war, the Prime Minister eventually ordered the soldiers to lay down their weapons and the company executives to stop evicting the starving families.

Alrik fought tirelessly for his fellow workers’ jobs, and was successful – but this came at a price. The company executives ensured that Alrik was blacklisted throughout Sweden, so that he could not find employment anywhere in the country. He was forced into exile and fled across the Atlantic on an overloaded ship with his wife and two small children. He ended up in Chicago, where he found work at a steel mill and was given the title – Head Hammer Man. He worked there until his death in 1970, never mentioning his life in Sweden to anyone. No one in Sweden, or even in Horndal remembers him.

Head Hammer Man is a tribute to Alrik Andersson, a chance for his story to live on, over one hundred years after he took a stand for the people of Horndal. His tale is woven throughout the most ambitious, inspired and expansive compositions that Horndal have created to date. Not only inspired by this one remarkable man, the band have drawn influence from all corners of their record collections. From Pugh Rogefeldt to Autopsy, Wipers to Judas Priest, Hawkwind to Mercyful Fate, Don Cherry to Voivod. A riff borrowed from Sparks here, a solo borrowed from Jake E Lee there. Brass arrangements alongside layered harmony guitars. John Barry‘s The Persuaders theme next to King Crimson and The Jesus Lizard. Black Sabbath and The Shadows, Slayer and Sonic Youth

The album was recorded in various locations across Sweden, including at the legendary Atlantis Metronome studios – including Swedish icons ABBA, whose very own grand piano is featured on Head Hammer Man. The album was mixed by Simon Söderberg at Mayfire Studio, and mastered by Magnus Lindberg at Redmount Studios. Horndal invited their good friends to add to the album’s sonic landscape; Martin Hederos (The Soundtrack of Our Lives etc) plays organs and Moogs, whilst Henrik Palm (In Solitude, Ghost, Viagra Boys) contributed two hair raising guitar solos. The Head Hammer Man himself even makes a cameo with excerpts from a speech included in the title track. History may have forgotten him but Horndal never will.

Head Hammer Man tracklist:
1. Head Hammer Man
2. Calling Labor
3. Exiled
4. Fuck the Scabs
5. Famine
6. Blacklisted
7. The Shining Specter
8. Evictions
9. Orange Legacy
10. Creature Cages