Stefan Elmgren leaves HammerFall

[Spiner202]

Stefan Elmgren has left HammerFall to pursue his career as an airline pilot.

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=60273902&blogID=373243290
Hello Everybody.

I have decided to leave Hammerfall, the reason is that I have been offered a job as a pilot within an airline.
My interest in aviation has been growing very strong, and now I feel its time for me to take a step and be a pilot on a professional level.
We have been discussing the possibility of combining the work with HF and both me and the rest of the band realized that it would be very hard indeed.

It has been a great journey with lots of great memories that I will carry with me for the rest of my life, I would like to give a big thanks to all the wonderful fans, its has truly been a pleasure to meet and perform for you all during these 11 years.

I still love to play the guitar so you might hear from me again someday somehow.

I would like to wish who ever is taking my place and the rest of the band good luck in the future.

Take care everybody!!

Stefan Elmgren

This really killed me. Stefan is one of my favorite members of HammerFall and it's sad to see him go, but if it's for the best, then good luck...

As of now, no replacement has been named.

[The Eye in the Sky!]

With no disrespect to him, a guitarist is easier to replace than a vocalist in a band like this. Power metal is a very generic genre when it comes to guitarists since most songs are structured the same in the majority of power metal bands. Now, if they lost Joacim Cans they'd be in trouble as he has that voice that differentiates them from other bands.

[Powerslave]

yeah, what Eye says is true. he didn't contribute a great deal on the creative side of things either, so he is fairly expendible.

on a side note, how come Hammerfall don't have an official site anymore?

[Spiner202]

With no disrespect to him, a guitarist is easier to replace than a vocalist in a band like this. Power metal is a very generic genre when it comes to guitarists since most songs are structured the same in the majority of power metal bands. Now, if they lost Joacim Cans they'd be in trouble as he has that voice that differentiates them from other bands.
I have to agree with this. Without Cans, I probably wouldn't even listen to HammerFall anymore. It just wouldn't be the same. I still can't imagine HammerFall with Stefan after watching their dvd. Solos just won't be the same without him making funny faces while he solos :(.

yeah, what Eye says is true. he didn't contribute a great deal on the creative side of things either, so he is fairly expendible.

While he didn't do a ton, he was still one of the main writers. He contributed at least a couple tracks on every album, and I don't think the Bassist or Drummer have ever contributed, so I found him to be important.

on a side note, how come Hammerfall don't have an official site anymore?
Apparently the guy who ran the website didn't pay the bill, so they haven't had a website for almost a year now. I actually didn't learn this until last night though.

[coheed]

Darn commercial airlines got one of my favorite bands, too. :(