“Sweeping away in their ships of dragon”

Taken from 1981’s Metal Conquest EP (one of 2024″s most essential and overdue metal reissues), Heavy Load’s Heathens From The North is an epic Swedish metal wonder. It’s got brawny, snaking riffs, awesome rough-hewn vocals from Ragne Wahlquist and a glorious choral intro which doubles in magnificence when it returns in the midst of a sweeping guitar solo. It’s the kind of muscular, steady-as-she-goes Viking metal that really floats my longboat.

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HMO salutes Ragne Wahlquist who has sadly passed away aged 69.