Review by Alex on October 7, 2020.

Russia to the rescue!, well not quite, considering this is death metal. Infiltration take up the challenge of steering this already fuckety fuck of a year further down the path to total annihilation with their debut Point Blank Termination. Take a look at the name, then take into account it's only 31 minutes, nuff said? Those that are not new to the genre - would understand, but to fresh meat, prepare for a good old fashioned clobbering, thrashing death metal style. Brutal blast beats, pummeling double bass trade-off ferocity with decimating riffs and vocals; you dare play roulette with Point Blank Termination? The four butchers of Infiltration take a somewhat clean production and just smear it in the entrails of late 90s, overflowing with cruel-chug chord structures that dissolve into some fascinating classic death metal riffing.

This record concentrates on aggression whether it be in the mid paced chugging moments of 'Radiation Storm' or the fast pelting knuckles of 'Rabid Bloodshed', either way you get what is expected of a such a short album from a death metal band, total fucking obliteration. It’s not all aggression however, Infiltrate take time in applying the necessary curves as to ensure each entry has something that it may sport as an exclusive feature. This is where the guitars and drumming shine; get blasted in the face by the blizzard of blast-beats or those amputating pinch harmonics and stomping solos heard on songs such as 'Plunged Into Decimation' and the aptly titled 'Collateral Damage'. These songs take a fucking chunk out the arse of brutality, chew it up and spit it back at you with their own coating of Russian vitriol.

I admire Infiltration's respect for time in a sense they don't overdo things by creating a 45 minute album that puts the listener to sleep by the 20 minute mark; as implied recently, the songs have their own personalities and are played tightly thus the material is perceived as refreshing with each listen despite the genre being nothing new. And that is what you want form a record this sort, nothing too over the top but at the same time, nothing that is underwhelming. On their debut, Point Blank Termination, Infiltration demonstrate the ability to create something that's been in the fallout one too may times and somewhat apply a refreshing sheen to its deteriorating frame. Be on the lookout for more works of woe by this new Russian pact, for now let the punishing sounds of 'Plunged Into Decimation', and 'Missing In Bodycount' hum with ravaging fury in your ears.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Review by Vladimir on October 31, 2023.

When talking about Sweden’s metal scene, you can pick any subgenre of metal and you will definitely find plenty of great and successful bands out there, even in the realm of traditional heavy metal. One of the prominent figures and veterans of the Swedish heavy metal scene is the band Heavy Load, who have been around since 1976. The band’s debut album Full Speed At High Level was released all the way back in 1977 when heavy metal was still a fresh genre, but their next two albums Death Or Glory (1982) and Stronger Than Evil (1983) are considered classics among fans of oldschool heavy metal. The band had not recorded a new full-length album for a long time, and have since disbanded a couple of times, but have successfully reunited in 2017. After 40 years, the band has finally released their fourth full-length album Riders Of The Ancient Storm on October 6th, 2023 via No Remorse Records, which contains some songs from 1986 and 2023. The time has come to unfreeze the ancient rider and let the hot engines roll. 

The album starts with the opening tune 'Ride the Night', a full-throttle heavy metal track with vocal and guitar melodies which tells you exactly that you’ll be hearing classic Heavy Load from the 80’s. The band goes all the way from the very start and from then on, they give it all they got, at times even showing that there is more to it than just good ol’ hot rocking and heavy metal. You’ll come across a few slow but incredibly catchy easy rider tunes like 'We Rock The World' and 'Angel Dark', which have some Black Sabbath-like vibes from the 70’s era. There are a couple of amazing tracks which is where the album really shines for me, that being 'Walhalla Warriors', 'Slave No More', 'Raven Is Calling' and 'Sail Away'. All four tracks bring down the fire and thunder with all their epic and glory, thanks to the wonderful addition of violins, keyboards and mesmerizing guitar solos. The album even ends on a high note with the bonus track 'Butterfly Whispering', which is a seven-minute acoustic instrumental with a beautiful composition that is heavily influenced by classical music and also serves as a great epilogue to this amazing joyride. The band’s journey certainly seems like it went far and wide with this album, especially since it contains tracks from different periods which feels a bit disconnected at first or like a weird compilation of old and new, but all can be overlooked once you get down to the general musical output which is at the forefront. The songwriting is indeed traditional 80’s heavy metal with a plethora of strong guitar riffs and amazing guitar solos, but you can definitely tell that apart from being primarily focused on the riffing and arrangements, the band even went as far to include other interesting bits like violins and the acoustic bonus track to further spice things up. The aforementioned four epic tracks are great examples at showcasing the band’s capability of incredible dynamic songwriting ideas and powerful artistic expression as heavy metal musicians, which is why I purposely dubbed these tracks as “The Big 4” or the “Four Riders of the Ancient Storm”. There isn’t much that I could say about the sound production other than the fact that it is very well done and I personally think that you can tell that Styrbjörn Wahlquist and Ragne Wahlquist provided a good treatment during the mixing and mastering of their unused tracks from the 80’s. 

Even if Riders Of The Ancient Storm feels like a strange mish-mash at first, it is undoubtedly a very good album which proves that Heavy Load remained faithful to their musical roots and it is a blessing from the gods. Jim Ruthless, aka Ruthless Metal, had a good point saying that it feels like we’ve taken a time machine to 1983 since Heavy Load and Cirith Ungol released a new album this same year, and both albums really make the crazed heavy metal maniac feel very nostalgic, especially if you’re over 40 and even been around in the 80’s when both bands were in their prime youth. If you’re a fan of Heavy Load and Swedish heavy metal in general, but you still haven’t checked this one out, stop wasting your time and go give it a listen. 

Rating: 8.5 out of 10