Our song "Victory" has a pretty interesting story behind it. It all started about two years ago when I came up with the intro/theme riff. I realized it was pretty catchy and would be perfect for sports events. With the riff as the foundation to it all, I built a complete song around it. I did a simple recording of it and sent it to the guitar player in the band, Joachim Nordlund. Joachim and I arranged the song and made a real recording of it.
By now I had big plans. I wanted to give the song to my favourite Swedish hockey team, Leksands IF to have as their own hymn. Said and done; I sent them the song; they loved it and pressed 1500 singles to sell in their merch shop. It didn't take long before all singles were sold.

However it felt a bit sad, that this great song wasn't on any of our albums, so when we got the chance to release a Best Of-album, we decided: now is the time. The only thing was that the vocals on the song were sung in Swedish. Not so fun for people that can't speak or understand Swedish. We had to make an English version. Said and done. On "Testament of Rock"-The Best of Astral Doors, the exclusive English version, is the worthy closer of the entire album.

Now I just hope that "Victory" will be played at hockey arenas all across North America. It's a pretty bombastic song. A little bit of "Queen meets Dio" or something. Not exactly the 70's rough rock style we use to play, but still a proud moment in the history of Astral Doors. Hope you'll enjoy it!