Album Review: Stronger than Evil, by Heavy Load

I was really into heavy metal as a teenager in the 1980s. I still am, but back then I had an encyclopaedic knowledge of bands and songs. It was my obsession, along with fantasy and science fiction books. (I was a cliche; deal with it.) Which makes it all the more peculiar that I never came across Swedish band Heavy Load back then.

It wasn’t like they were an unknown band; Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzy played on one of their tracks. But somehow I missed them.

This is 80s heavy metal of the type you might expect from Iron Maiden, Saxon, Judas Priest and the like, but with a slightly more commercial, melodic tint to their colour.

Particular highlights are the thumping Singing Swords, the catchy Stronger Than Evil, and the driving Saturday Night. But there’s not a weak track on the album.

Here’s a taster:

I bought this on vinyl, because I like writing in a room that doesn’t have any device that can connect to the internet, and it’s a nice product. The sound is also way, way better and fuller on the vinyl than you get from the YouTube track, above. It comes with some bonus tracks which, rather oddly, are on an included CD. I guess this is to save a bit of money, but it’s odd, because it’s not the cheapest vinyl out there and if I wanted stuff on CDs I would be buying the cheaper CD option. But that’s an aside, really, because the actual album is really good.

I am kind of sad I didn’t come across this in the 80s, but in fact it’s a gift to discover something this good after all this time.