HELVETETS PORT – Warlords (2024)

Gothenburg’s HELVETETS PORT issued their debut album back in 2009, followed by tan EP a year later. They returned with a full length in 2019 before being stopped in their tracks by the global pandemic, like most other bands.
While not the most prolific act in the world, the Swedish 5-piece are back 2024 with a new album titled “Warlords“.
With a sleeve art that actually looks like a mixture of Lizzy Borden’s “Menace to Society” and a poster of the Mad Max movie, fortunately the music is much better than the artwork – and isn’t that what really counts?
HELVETETS PORT play first half of the ’80s classic heavy metal. Part NWOBHM, part Swedish Metal – just nonsense fun, entertaining trad metal in the Judas Priest mold. The sound on “Warlords” is more towards 1984 than 1981; twin powerful yet clean melodic guitars, Halford-like vocals, and a tight rhythm section.

“Warlords” has a great flow as the band varies when it comes to the sequencing of the song. There are the blistering headbangers like “Cry of the Night”, which is a counterpart to the moderate and melodic midtempo “Legions Running Wild”.
Helvetets Port don’t stick to a repetitive standard approach in their songwriting and a track that shows the width of their musical vision is the slower and heavy pounding “Mutant March”. Equipped with a marching beat, the song sticks in your mind and reminds you of the mid-80s, when this kind of metal was at its peak.

Next, the guys switch gears with the fast “Hårdför Överman” with Swedish lyrics, before tackling “Tyrants of Tokyo”, which vocal lines on the chorus will get people singing along. Atmosphere is what characterizes “Key to the Future”, a song that is deliberately different from hard n’ heavy “Golden Axe” where the guitars spit like fireworks, and the apocalyptic “2049”, the album’s closer. On this fianl track the vocals switch tone especially going higher on the choruses. And the solo, is another one on the album which is pretty killer! This is certainly a strong song and a nice way to finish up the album.

Eighties Metalheads will love “Warlords” as it refers to a time when heavy metal grew and had its first heyday. Headbanging isn’t just recommended while listening to these songs. It is a rule!

01 – Black Knight
02 – Wasteland Warriors
03 – Mutant March
04 – Hårdför Överman
05 – Tyrants in Tokyo
06 – Legions Running Wild
07 – Cry of the Night
08 – Helvete på Larvfötter
09 – Key to the Future
10 – Golden Axe
11 – 2049

Witchfinder – Vocals
K. Lightning – Guitars
Virgin Killer – Guitars
Earthquake – Bass
O. Thunder – Drums

Pre order:
hrrecords.de/HELVETETS-PORT-Warlords-SLIPCASE-CD