Its been 40 long years since we’ve last heard from pioneering Swedish vikings, Heavy Load. Their early brand of fantastical metal would prove immensely influential on scores of power, epic, and viking metal bands to follow, making it all the more strange that they wouldn’t finally reunite until 2017. Hell, even their long defunct peers Cirith Ungol beat them to the reunion tour punch by a few years, but as the old saying goes, better late than never. As Heavy Load made their triumphant laps around the euro festival circuit, many wondered if A. This reunion would result in new music and B. If this reunion should result in new music.
Just because a veteran band still has it live doesn’t mean they can still cut the mustard in the studio. In the case of Heavy Load, I completely understand the skepticism. Swedes widely revere them as their be all, end all metal band: The band who set the stage for their entire ’80s metal revolution, be it Candlemass, Europe, Bathory, and so forth. If November is Sweden’s Black Sabbath, then Heavy Load is their Judas Priest. They didn’t invent Swedish metal, but they were the first Swedish metal band in spirit and approach.
Much like how Priest continues to defy the laws of time, so does Heavy Load on their long awaited comeback album, Riders of the Ancient Storm. The only young blood of their reunion lineup is lead guitarist Nic Savage, formerly of Steelwing. Besides Savage, it’s the brothers Wahlquist, Styrbjörn and Ragne, sharing vocals and playing drums and guitars respectively, as well as bassist Torbjörn Ragnesjö. Together, our four warriors have made an album that touches upon the finest moments of their classic output, while paving new ground for future generations of maniacs.
Hymns like the muscular “Ride the Night”, grandiose “Walhalla Warriors”, and doom-laden “Slave No More” are cut from the same cloth as those that make up Death or Glory (1982) and Stronger than Evil (1983): Crisp and anthemic, yet wildly adventurous in a proto-epic metal fashion. The swaggering Zeppelin gone Scandi-metal groove of “We Rock the World” and Rush flavored heavy prog jamming of “Angel Dark” wouldn’t sound out of place on the cult debut, Full Speed at High Level (1978). And then there’s cuts like the uplifting “Raven is Calling” and bombastic “Sail Away”, both of which give the listener the idea that, even in their absence, Heavy Load kept an ear out for the power metal which transpired in their wake.
While I wouldn’t classify Riders as a mind-blowing comeback masterpiece on the level of Satan’s Life Sentence (2013) or Cirith Ungol’s Forever Black (2020), it’s most definitely a return to form that will leave old schoolers raising their weapon of choice in victorious bliss. It’s also a fine addition to a catalog that, up until now, consisted of three full length albums and sporadic EP/single releases. Perhaps in this tradition we can expect an oddball 7 inch release some time in the next year? You never know!
7 out of 10
Label: No Remorse Records
Genre: Heavy Metal
For fans of: Manowar, Cirith Ungol, Mindless Sinner