Swedish melodic metallers HAMMERFALL have posted the following message on their official web site:

"Joacim [Cans, vocals] broke a bone in his elbow during a taekwon-do training session on Monday. Says he: 'It was during the warm-up, we were doing rushes across the room when I somehow slipped and went full-speed into the concrete wall. I managed to get the right arm up to try to stop the momentum, so that arm took all of my weight and got sandwiched between me and the wall. The thing with a broken elbow is, you don't get a cast or even a bandage. The doctor just said to take pills to combat the pain — which is pretty bad, sometimes — and try to move it a lot to prevent it from getting stiff. I will be OK in a month or so.' Joacim also sends the message that this will not affect anything planned for the band, and that they will have some news about the new bass player soon."

HAMMERFALL last month parted ways with bassist Magnus Rosén. A replacement bassist has yet to be announced.

HAMMERFALL recently extended its contract with Nuclear Blast Records for another six albums. The signing took place on January 31 before the band's concert at the Filharmonie in Filderstadt, Germany.

The Donzdorf, Germany-based Nuclear Blast originally signed HAMMERFALL ten years ago and released the group's debut album, "Glory to the Brave", in 1997.

HAMMERFALL's vampire-themed video for "Natural High", a track off their latest album, "Threshold", debuted in January on MTV2's "Headbanger's Ball". Watch the clip online at YouTube.com.

Known for dedicating themselves to preserving the genre of traditional heavy metal as inspired by metal's "golden era," HAMMERFALL was founded in 1993 by guitarist Oscar Dronjak and drummer Jesper Strömblad (now IN FLAMES' guitarist) in Gothenberg, Sweden. Drinking heavily from the well of high-octane twin-guitar work, clean vocal stylings, and classic-styled on-stage wardrobe, HAMMERFALL use the storytelling tradition to tell tales of honor and victory and to that end, band members have collaborated with the likes of Swedish Olympic athletes to the Swedish National Symphony Orchestra.