Metal Conquest

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...

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

All right here's the deal. HEAVY LOAD from Sweden were one of the earliest European metal groups (along with ACCEPT, TRANCE, TORCH, GLORY BELL'S BAND, and early SCORPIONS). Following the 1978 release of HEAVY LOAD's debut LP "Full Speed At High Level" (worth tons of $$$, but nothing like the beast which would be unleashed upon the frozen tundra of Scandinavia in 1981 called "Metal Conquest" and its two even more destructive follow-ups, 1982's "Death Or Glory" LP and '83's amazing "Stronger Than Evil" LP). Founding brothers of the band, Ragne and Syrbjorn Wahlquist, did some house-cleaning, eventualy arriving at the truly god-like classic four man line-up of the Walquist brothers (Ragne on vocals/guitar & Syrbjorn on drums/vocals), the incomparable Eddy Malm (vocals/guitar), and Tarbjorn Ragnesjo (bass). This classic line-up would survive until the bands tragic break-up in the mid-'80s.

By "Metal Conquest", HEAVY LOAD had developed into a true metal monster, especially considering we're still only in '81. "Metal Conquest" simply pulses with metal power and glory (without sounding like Priest, Maiden, Accept, or any of the mammoth up and comers) and sets a high bar for all European metal which followed. If you are unfamiliar with early '80s Euro-metal, the sound was characterized by an often overwhelming sense of melody and songcraft coupled with the aggression of the NWOBHM. HEAVY LOAD were the epitome of Euro-metal and, in my opinion, reign supreme as veritable gods.

All five tracks on "Metal Conquest" are amazing, ranging from the punky, fist-pumping metal anthem "You've Got the Power" to the blustery and wintery melodies of "Dark Nights" and "Hey" (truly two of the greatest vocal performances ever, courtesy of Eddy Malm), to vintage true metal tunes like "Heavy Metal Heaven" and the epic closer "Heathens From the North" (without a doubt one of the best early examples of power metal and in the context of 1981 metal, hugely innovative - way more so than Manowar who HEAVY LOAD is so unfairly often compared with).

So quite simply, the "Metal Conquest" EP is essential. Unfortunately, many have not heard HEAVY LOAD (in part due to poor record distribution and their tragically short career), making them one of the true lost legends of metal. This is truly sad because HEAVY LOAD had one of the most majestic, unique, compelling, dynamic, memorable, and truly well-played approaches in metal history (in large part due to the truly mind-blowing vocal arrangements of Eddy Malm and Ragne Wahlquist and simple, but hugely effective guitar work).

It will be a truly glorious day for heavy metal when a decent label officially releases the HEAVY LOAD back catalog in remastered form (with bonus tracks also please!!!). Until that day, however, you'll simply have to shell out the big bucks and either pay for the original LPs (granted they all feature some of the most stunning album art and layouts in metal history) or pick up a semi-legitimate (albeit usually quite well-made with great sound quality) CD releases.

One thing is for sure, however...with HEAVY LOAD I guarantee you will get your money's worth!!! With only a few listens you will become addicted to the brilliance of this Swedish metal powerhouse!

ALL HAIL THE GODS OF EUROPEAN METAL....HEAVY LOAD!!!!! A band who truly deserve a place in EVERY metalhead's collection!

“…come along with thunder, come along and fight…”

During the three years after the group’s secret groundbreaker hit whatever racks it could, Heavy Load, while tunneling through the death of the ‘70s and the avalanche of ‘80’s metal upstarts, lost bassist Dan Molen, but found another in Torbjörn Ragnesjo and ex-Highborn guitarist/vocalist Eddy Malm buried in the snow. Prior to that they’d unearth a few others along the way, but none survived within the Wahlquist clan. Now strengthened to a four-piece, they tunnel on, and on, and it’s a long, lonely tunnel. The snow gets brighter. Tired, darkness-weary eyes come to life. “Daylight!” is shouted, and with a Viking yell they punch through the frostbitten veil, escaping the decade to plant this nifty little five-tracker in the barely cracked ice of a new age, and with this comes Load’s clearly modernized and more commanding sound.

With savvy sharpened by age and experience, you’d think the Swedes would take advantage of multi-talented Malm, hopefully a guy who could not only embellish, but improve upon a sound that often found itself on the breadline in past times, and they do, by giving him and his second guitar “Dark Nights” and “Hey” to sing. Nicely, who-does-what credit is given under each track so we can all see the band’s upgraded steps, terribly illegible in dark blue writing on a starry background, and it took me almost a quarter of the first track to find and decipher it (and another five minutes to find the list of band members under their pictures), so just when I think Malm’s got his lower register, coolly authoritative teeth sunk into sinewy, anthem-styled “You’ve Got the Power”, I find out it’s actually Ragne Wahlquist, the same guy who teeters on the debut. Now it gets interesting. Turns out Ragne has a pair of tracks behind the mike as well, and the third? Drummer brother Styrbjorn. So with a veritable vocal shish kabob thing going on and stronger musical footing, the conquest continues.

The sonic foundation Load built in ’78 has and hasn’t changed. Engineered by Ragne and Malm, the production is fuller all around, especially the guitars that are also pitched more masculinely-deeper here. There’s still a decent rock percentage factored in, but it’s just a meaner grade now. And with at least a year or two of full-blown metal in existence (fully recognized in the title), they thankfully have some new tricks up their sleeves as well.

It was only a matter of time before they unearthed the art of the anthem, and with “You’ve Got the Power” and “Heavy Metal Heaven” they have two. We already know Ragne lays his new pipes on the former, pipes that sound nothing like the undersized rusty ones on Full Speed at High Level, and for me is the ‘feel good’ flash of the disc, ‘cos this drastic leap in style deserves applause. Forceful, masculine, and seemingly incapable of a soft tiding moment, had these vocals been aboard to navigate the debut’s ship…. The latter anthem, sung shakily by Styrbjorn who is less annoyingly reminiscent of his brother three years ago, is somehow insecure in its motion while being mostly redundant. As for mid-toned and clear Malm, “Dark Nights” with its threadbare mid-pace and nondescript vocal delivery could be the usual boring Witchfynde song, though the heartening chorus saves it from being complete cannon fodder. “Hey” is a commercially amiable foot tapper with good flow, not a top track but listenable, and reinstitutes Malm to average status.

But the sails aren’t in full billow until the final gust, “Heathens From the North”, a third possible band-personal anthem that manages to climb its way onto so many of my personal compilations it’s almost ridiculous. My own gaudy personal video for this song plays in my head as I write this, Ragne regal in furs and armor as he stands on the longboat’s bow, bloodstained and dented helmet in place, the wooden face of the ship’s dragon overhead, ‘…heathens from the north, coming to take it all…!’ yelled bloodshot from within plumes of white breath, armed n’ scarred warriors behind him moaning the epic’s reoccurring ancestral drone, and startlingly makes Manowar’s epic strides seem almost timid. Ragne is in his definitive form here, remarkable considering how ineffectively goofy his vocals were three years ago, and you can almost reach out and touch the vehemence in his tone as it echoes across a chunky Sabbatherian riff. This is a song an album title like Metal Conquest was meant to carriage, and with their Viking heritage exploded out to full-scale like everyone wanted it to be, is the group’s foremost triumph of any album…or just something to blare while driving your stripped down Jeep Wrangler up and down the Jersey shore’s main drag on a bustling Saturday night in August. Whatever you do with it, it’s truly epic.

So while the combatants on the cover do battle in the chill of Metal Conquest’s whites and grays, we sit at home warmed by the band’s successful advance. The formula isn’t perfect, actually being formulaic to a fault at times, but they’re on their way. You could be a passenger on crappier boats.

Comes with a cool foldout color poster/lyric sheet.

“…they'll leave an exhausted land, sweeping away in their ships of dragon…”