HAMMERFALL guitarist Oscar Dronjak has posted the following message on the band's official web site:

"That's it, we are now back home in Sweden and there are no more shows scheduled. We had a fantastic five weeks on the road with STRATOVARIUS! Thank you Timo, Timo, Jörg, Lauri and especially Jens, I will miss all of you guys tremendously! But we will meet again down the road, of that I'm absolutely sure.

"SHAKRA and the twenty-something crew members completed this tour and helped make it a great success, and things would never have been as good without you. In fact, we had more people than ever before in pretty much every city, which in itself is a testament to how strong a package this was. So thank you everyone, who showed up and participated in making every show memorable for us on stage and — hopefully — for you in the audience as well. Lastly, our crew, who worked their asses off every single day, there is no way in hell we could have done this without you guys (and girl). We thank you all!

"Now on to a very sad note, as Sweden lost a great, hilarious, outrageous comedian this weekend. As hard as it was to believe at first, Micke Dubois, a.k.a. Svullo, chose to take his own life. HAMMERFALL had a special relationship with the man, as several of us grew up with his incredible antics and worshipped the fast wit and insult humor he was so good at. Anders [Johansson, drums] played on a great album of his, 'Radio KRM', in the beginning of the Nineties. Svullo was also our man at the scene at the Grammy Awards a few years ago, when we were unable to attend ourselves. The last time either of us saw him was at Pub Anchor in Stockholm last spring, when he hosted a karaoke competition. I will always remember the many over-the-top antics and funny moments Micke Dubois have brought us, and many of his immortal comments live on in my daily life. As will the memory of a great, pioneering comedian, who was disgustingly funny long before many of the 'Jackass' boys became double digits. R.I.P., Micke!"

HAMMERFALL's latest album, "Chapter V: Unbent, Unbowed, Unbroken", was released in March via Nuclear Blast Records. The follow-up to 2002's "Crimson Thunder" was produced and mixed by Charlie Bauernfeind (BLIND GUARDIAN, HELLOWEEN).