Swedish melodic metallers HAMMERFALL have set "No Sacrifice, No Victory" as the title of their eighth full-length album, due on February 20, 2009 via Nuclear Blast Records. The CD was recorded in part at Andy La Rocque's (KING DIAMOND) Sonic Train Studios in Varberg, Sweden and includes an instrumental written by the group's latest addition, guitarist Pontus Norgren (THE POODLES, TALISMAN, GREAT KING RAT), as well as a song entitled "One of a Kind", which was composed as a collaboration between HAMMERFALL guitarist Oscar Dronjak and IN FLAMES axeman Jesper Strömblad (who was a member of HAMMERFALL in the band's earliest incarnation). The cover artwork was created by Sam Didier, while Thomas Ewerhard was responsible for the CD layout.

"No Sacrifice, No Victory" track listing:

01. Any Means Necessary
02. Life Is Now
03. Punish And Enslave
04. Legion
05. Between Two Worlds
06. Hallowed Be My Name
07. Something For The Ages
08. No Sacrifice, No Victory
09. Bring The Hammer Down
10. One Of A Kind
11. My Sharona (THE KNACK cover)

A video for the first single, "Any Means Necessary", will be shot in Belgrade, Serbia next week.

Pontus Norgren joined HAMMERFALL as the replacement for Stefan Elmgren, who left the band in early April to focus on his new career as a pilot.

HAMMERFALL's "Masterpieces" CD — a collection of all the covers the band has recorded to date plus three previously unreleased versions of other artists' songs — entered the German Media Control chart at position No. 69. Meanwhile, HAMMERFALL's "Rebels With A Cause - Unruly, Unrestrained, Uninhibited" DVD chronicling the last few years of the band's career landed on the German chart at No. 81 (German chart rules allow music DVDs to enter album charts).

The band will embark on a European headlining tour in early 2009, with support from SABATON and BULLET.

Band photo by Michael Johansson: