Heavy Load - Monsters of the Night (1985)

Stronger Than Evil was for all purposes the swan song for Sweden's Heavy Load, but they did manage to squeak out one more single with two new tracks before splitting up in 1985. Perhaps not the 'banner year' in the 80s for werewolves (that would be 1981), but you had the first Howling film sequel, the Michael J. Fox vehicle Teen Wolf and then of course Monsters of the Night, with its tee shredding hesher howling in tune to the full moon. Is there an amp connected to that thing? I'm not gonna lie to you, next to vikings, polar bears and corpses this is pretty goddamn weak, and unfortunately the music is also some of the worst the band had written, despite boasting largely the same lineup as the previous two albums.

"Monsters of the Night" is another horror party track, with an opening not unlike that of the title cut from Stronger Than Evil. Unlike "Thriller", or Tankard's "Zombie Attack", this one seems to think it can get by on having almost no interesting riff patterns and a bunch of cheesy effects of wolves howling, creeking doors, decrepit grunts, 80s hard rock synthesizers and a fuck ton of shout along vocals that too often drown out the significance of the lead singer. But really this is about as close as the Swedes every got to bland mainstream rock radio and it's a complete waste of time. The other piece, "I'm Alive" sounds like the bastard child of Black Sabbath's "Neon Knights" and Golden Earring's "Radar Love", perhaps too much so. Uplifting heavy/ power metal, sure, but once more we're dealing with a derivative and weak guitar progression and vocals that are hardly as inspiring as what we experienced on Death or Glory and Stronger Than Evil.

The real tragedy is that this was put out as a 7" through the Warner group, so Heavy Load was possibly on the brink of breaking into the bigger market at last, but for whatever reason, label pressure or just a personal choice, they decided to move in a more banal and mass audience friendly direction not unlike Quiet Riot, or other bands who walked the margin between hard rock and heavier metal, but the results would prove mediocre at best, miserable at worst, and not a fond farewell from a band so capable of greater. To their credit, they probably realized this themselves.

Verdict: Fail [4.75/10]

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Heavy Load - Stronger Than Evil (1983)

Though I don't hold it up as my personal paragon of Heavy Load's output, I think history will prove that, if anything, Stronger Than Evil was their most structured work, with almost all focus directly on the songwriting and a fraction less perhaps on the atmosphere and variation of the first two full-lengths. The musicianship is just as tight as it was on Death or Glory, the barbaric icon of its cover art just as ready to taste the blood its fallen enemies, and the vocals far better balanced than any of their other works to its day. Yet despite its myriad strengths, there are simply a number of songs on this disc that I don't feel much of an attraction towards, and when you're coming out in a year that matched you up against classics like Balls to the Wall, Pyromania, Piece of Mind, Into Glory Ride, Metal Health, and the newfound aggression of Kill 'Em All and Show No Mercy, you really needed to knock every ball (or skull, in this case) out of the park.

Granted, there is at least track here which belongs in any conversation involving Euro metal classics of the 80s, and that would be the opener, "Run With the Devil". No surprise why the Swedish retrofitters HammerFall would choose this as one of their numerous nostalgic cover tunes, it's got personality and a spring-loaded, playful central riff to die for, with rock solid soaring vocals (lead and backing), and a screaming lead that at least perks up the ears. I also loved the rather epic, mid-paced majesty of "The King" with its subtly strutting bass lines and forceful howling, or the sad and beautiful "Dreaming" which makes one of the best uses of the dramatic vocal harmonies in all of Heavy Load's history. "Stronger Than Evil" itself is another of the album's stronger tunes, with a cheesy, percussive intro that reeks of campy 80s horror (you expect Michael Jackson to bust out his zombie gear about half way through it), but to be truthful I don't think it had the money shot riff of the similar "Run with the Devil".

And then there's the other half of this record, which is not quite up to the task. Songs like "Free" and "Saturday Night" bring a more peppy, inoffensive hard rock feel to the music, not that they are entirely void of decent riffs, but ultimately even the harmonies and bleating leads cannot save them from the void of forgetfulness. "Roar of the North" is another of the Swedes' mighty Viking epics, and while it tramples along at a mighty pace, I thought the vocals here had a bit of deficiency when placed against the remainder of the album. None of these are necessarily deal breakers that drag the album into the abyss, but Death or Glory seemed to have a surprise or two around every corner, while this is far more straightforward, the band's last substantial grasp towards achieving some success, and it builds up expectations with a few earlier tracks and then seems to run out of interesting ideas the deeper in you travel. Phil Lynott's guest bass slots don't really add a lot where they do appear on a few tunes.

Of course, Heavy Load were no longer 'alone' at this time in terms of the Swedish metal scene. The more commercially focused Europe had its debut out this same year, and good bands like Axe Witch, Silver Mountain, 220 Volt, Gotham City, Overdrive, Proud and Torch were just arriving in the 1983-84 period and putting out better albums than this one. Heavy Load had made a case for itself with Death or Glory, but the elder statesmen of the scene were on the verge of having their hopes drowned out due to the mass explosion of the genre through Europe, and they just weren't writing at the level of Accept or Judas Priest. For whatever reason, I'm guessing the very limited distribution channels of their own label, this venture was running out of steam, and Stronger Than Evil, while featuring what is arguably their most easily recognized song, was filed away under obscurity. That said, anyone seeking out vintage sounds could do a lot worse than this record, and it's at least better than their debut.

Verdict: Win [7.5/10] (and dawn was dark with smoke)

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Heavy Load - Death or Glory (1982)

When you've got a Viking warrior and a fucking polar bear throwing down on your album cover, then you'd damned well better be ready to throw down the gauntlet yourselves and get into the fight. While I can't claim that Death or Glory is a much heavier evolution of this Swedish band's sound than the Metal Conquest EP, it brings back a lot of the dramatic dynamics that defined their 1978 debut album and fuses them into some of the band's best songwriting. In fact, if I had to choose a single Heavy Load record to recommend that best represented their sound, this would be my first selection, a strong balance of pure 80s thunder and epic arrangements that might have competed in the same arena as Battle Hymns or Metal on Metal, if not for the limited accessibility the Swedes suffered from having to release the music themselves. Even today this is quite a rarity, and one is almost as likely to find the Japanese licensed copies as an original vinyl.

Death or Glory actually dials down a fraction of the single minded masculinity of the Metal Conquest EP in terms of its sheer sound, and as a result the guitar tones here have more of a fragility to them which really helps sell the blustering leads and the dual melodies (as you hear through a track like "Might for Right"). In general, though, the musicianship here is simply a more interesting experience than anything the band had brought out to date. The vocals shift back to a bit of the crazier charisma found on Full Speed at High Level, only with a lot more restraint and refinement which manages never to seem as sloppy or disjointed. The drums and bass on this record still sound great today, and for the first time in Heavy Load's careers, the leads really soar through cuts like "Might for Right", "Bleeding Streets" or the flashier segments in the bridge "Still There is Time", which have this raw classical formality to them which explodes into a sequence in which the noodling winds down into this pure, exotic chugging and flexing.

The Swedes retained a bit of their theatrical edge with the use of melodic, layered backing vocals and song structures that play out almost like tributes to the Sagas. In particular, "Daybreak Ecstasy" is a notable piece for its 9 minutes of escalation, from wintry acoustics and choirs to Styrbjörn's brief war drum thumping into some of the most glorious, imagination carving dual melodies on any Heavy Load release. This thing is simply PACKED with excellent riffing and pacing, and the vocals really howl out across the wintry background created through the reverb and atmosphere of the guitars. Hot damn, when they hit that tremolo riff around the 3:00 mark you just wanna find your own ursus maritimus and spill its savage blood across the snows. The track "Trespasser" is another unsung classic here, with more of those choppy, mean melodic guitar chugs that would have been huge if they were on Kill 'Em All (though the chorus here is admittedly a fraction too loud), and a few psychotic effects that give it almost this Hawkwind meets Diamond Head sci-fi feel that jives well with the apocalyptic lyrics.

Seriously, if Heavy Load had released an album full of tracks like that, with a little more control to the vocal lines, they likely would have blown up across Europe. But then, the variation present on Death or Glory is far from a weakness, and at least 6-7 of its songs rank among the best of their entire canon. Even the lyrics here are in general quite thoughtful, if not complex (like how they manage to create a jubilant transcendence out of what is essentially a metal groupie tribute in "Heavy Metal Angels"). The production of the record isn't perfect, with the voices clearly too voluminous in spots, but the tight rhythm section and the airy atmosphere of the guitars still sounds fresh to my ears 30 years later. I might be a little biased in its favor, as this was the first Heavy Load record I was ever exposed to (several years after it came out), but all of its many facets combine into what is very much mandatory for fans of this era. It was no Restless and Wild or Screaming for Vengeance in terms of 'hit potential', but holds up favorably along the output of acts the world over like Anvil, Loudness and Riot.

Verdict: Win [8.75/10] (can't stand for less)

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Heavy Load - Metal Conquest EP (1981)

Thematically, Metal Conquest might not stray far from the 1978 Heavy Load debut Full Speed at High Power, but in terms of its sheer muscle, the EP is a far better representative of the Swedish veterans' enduring legacy upon the scene to follow them. After the embarrassing performance of their first label 'Heavy Sounds', the Wahlquist brothers decided to go the DIY route again and create their new imprint, Thunderload, a truly appropriate title when you hear the sounds the band is belting out on the five tracks. Meatier guitars, manlier vocals, and a firmer grasp of how to drive home a vocal chorus hook transported this material away from the Judas Priest and Black Sabbath comparisons of the debut towards the realm of molten girth that characterized Anvil, Manilla Road, Manowar and the almighty Thor during the dawn of the 80s.

"You've Got the Power" throws you straight into the grinder with its beefier riffs, the Load now sporting the added guitars of one Eddy Malm. Simply, mid paced mutes and swinging chords lead the track into the sheer escalation of the chorus, and gone are the scattershot vocals that dirtied up the debut. The band also had a new bassist by this point (Torbjörn Ragnesjo), and both he and Malm would remain with the band through the rest of their recordings, thus lending a sense of strength and solidarity to the music which was all but absent in the 70s. I wouldn't say that the actual guitar progressions in the music here were all that impressive, clearly ridding upon the coattails of Judas Priest, and often proving rather dull wherever the vocals cease their soaring accolades, but at least in tracks like "Dark Nights" and "Heavy Metal Heaven" they generate some atmosphere through the use of moody melodies and decent, bluesy leads. The drums don't feel so dynamic as the first album, but they do their job ably, and the deeper pump of the bass manages to retain an identity even if it's not so perky as it had been.

They continued to ramp up the Viking savagery and 'metal warrior' imagery here with the lyrics to tracks like "Heavy Metal Heaven" and especially "Heathens from the North", which is this slower moving monolith of testosterone in which the band experiments with multi-layered male chorus vocals and a desire to create this ridiculously cheesy but apt atmosphere to celebrate a cheapened version of their own ethnic history. To that extent, they clearly had the jump on New York's Manowar even if their sound wasn't quite so crushing or memorable. In the end, though, while Metal Conquest is a slightly superior, more cohesive and compulsive offering than Full Speed at High Level, it's not quite the apex of the band's songwriting or ability to drive a hook into the listener's ears harder than Mjölnir. But we wouldn't have to wait very long...

Verdict: Win [7.25/10] (got to listen to that music again)

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Heavy Load - Full Speed at High Level (1978)

While it's sad that more people likely know of Sweden's Heavy Load through the HammerFall cover of "Running With the Devil" than through any quality time spent with the actual originals, I feel like the time is right for a renaissance of interest in bands like this, who were active by the time the dust alighted on the 70s and deserved quite a lot more attention than was ever granted them. Nostalgia is in full bloom of late, with countless bands attempting to mimic ever more obscure forebears, so why half ass it? Let's skip the 80s and head straight to the roots with this 1978 debut Full Speed at High Level, and album that might have knocked elbows with oldies like Stained Class or Never Say Die! had the winds of fate favored their choice in the treacherously obscure (self-issued) Heavy Sound imprint and given them a single worth its salt.

After all, we're talking about what is arguably the first Swedish heavy metal album, not an insignificant career footnote when one takes into consideration the massive wealth of bands that have exploded from that country, dominating numerous sub-genres in ensuing decades of accelerated extremity. Siblings Ragne and Styrbjörn Wahlquist formed the band in '76 and clearly drew upon the popular sounds of the day, so it's not surprising that the writing often hovers on the margin between the hard rock sounds of KISS, Led Zeppelin or the Scorpions, but there's also a heavier edge redolent of Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and Judas Priest to the point that Full Speed at High Level might be seen by some as somewhat of an also-ran, if not for the general novelty of the sound and the distinct timbre of Ragne's vocals; the latter of which ironically provides a crippling detriment to this album's potential success, if not an absolute obstacle to its appreciation.

The riffs on the record tend towards memorable rocking, in particular the driving Priest-like "Full Speed at High Level" or the punctuated grooves of "In Two Minds" or "Midnight Crawler", and as early as this debut they were pulling off spicy dual melodies and psychedelic atmosphere worthy of darker 60s or 70s prog rock influences. The third member of this power trio, and their second bassist, Dan Molén would appear only on this record, but he's got a plunky tone to his lines that creates an almost danceable mood to the more serious strain of the guitar licks. But probably my favorite performance here is by drummer Styrbjörn who proves himself a dynamic and skilled rhythm keeper with a sense for dramatic fills and grooves. Heavy Load was unquestionably ambitious here. From the "Barracuda" goes surf rock inauguration of "Moonlight Spell" to the synthesized proto prog-metal epic "Caroline", to the 11 and a half minute leviathan "Storm" which might best be categorized as a Swedish "War Pigs" with its Iommi phrasings, no two songs sound quite alike and that plays to the record's infinite refreshment.

Unfortunately, the vocal performance on the album all but ruins it for me. Strained, unsettling and very often slovenly, Ragne doesn't seem to have the range or the talent for structuring individual lines to really sell the hooks here. I'd compare him to a lower range Osbourne or Rob Halford dowsed in a minute reduction of Robert Plant's whine, with an undeniably dark edge to his style that would later transform into a more potent and polished tone. While I can forgive the guy's obvious accent to a degree (often I find such a thing an advantage), the delivery through numbers like "In Two Minds", "Rock 'n' Roll Freak" or even the title track opener feels forced, frivolous and all over the board. Not to the extent that it entirely destroys the atmosphere of the album, because there's some thriving, theatrical charisma about Ragne despite his faults, but enough that I've just never been able to enjoy it as much as their later full-lengths.

I should also note that Full Speed at High Level features one of the premiere 'Viking metal' tunes of the 70s. Perhaps a pale shadow of Led Zeppelin's titanic "Immigrant Song", but certainly worthy of Canadian Thor and well ahead of Germans Faithful Breath who would adopt that whole image around the dawn of the 80s. "Son of the Northern Light" is far one of the heaviest and most memorable pieces here, not only for the feel good grooves in the faster paced riffing (at least on this album), but the explicit Christian stomping Nordic worship. Pretty intense for its day, when Quorthon was just hitting puberty and Venom had yet to punch their tickets to Eternal Damnation. Alongside "Full Speed..." and "Midnight Crawler" this is one of the tracks I've always found myself returning to, even if the 1982 sophomore Death or Glory takes precedence whenever I feel the need to scratch this particular, archaic itch.

In summation, Heavy Load's debut is a decent piece tempered by variation and personality, but the limited distribution and the flimsy vocals just weren't doing the music any favors. We're not talking "Exciter" or "Saints in Hell" here, but it flows well enough through its colorful cover art and compositional contrasts to appease anyone with an interest in such formative sounds. Fans of harder 70s music with clear psychedelic and bluesy overtones would do well to at least check this out, though the later efforts are admittedly more robust and distinct.

Verdict: Win [7/10] (I hope you feel engaged)

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