Heavy Metal Songs
From Bathory to Ghost: a short guide to Swedish heavy metal songs, the bands behind them and the songs to start with.
It is no surprise that there are so many prolific heavy metal bands from Sweden, a country many fans associate with the Vikings. The depth and passion of Scandinavian metal songs show how far the genre has come since it took off in Europe in the early 1980s.
Swedish metal bands
You may wonder why there are so many metal bands in a country of around ten million people. One of the most important pioneers is Bathory, formed in Stockholm in 1983. Before then, Sweden was best known abroad for pop acts such as ABBA. Bathory was among the first bands to play what became known as Viking metal.
The band released influential albums such as The Return...... (1985), Under the Sign of the Black Mark (1987), Blood Fire Death (1988) and Hammerheart (1990), with songs such as "Call from the Grave", "A Fine Day to Die" and "One Rode to Asa Bay".
Metal songs
Fans of heavy metal songs have certainly heard of bands such as Candlemass and Amon Amarth. Opeth gained a reputation for its blend of progressive metal and death metal, with highlights such as "Blackwater Park", "Demon of the Fall" and "Deliverance". There is no denying the impact that metal bands from Sweden have had on heavy music. They helped shape subgenres such as death metal, melodic death metal and Viking metal.
Swedish metal songs to start with
If you are new to Swedish metal, these songs give a good picture of how wide the scene is:
- Candlemass: "Solitude" (1986), slow and epic doom
- Entombed: "Left Hand Path" (1990), the Stockholm death metal sound
- At the Gates: "Blinded by Fear" (1995), melodic death metal from Gothenburg
- In Flames: "Only for the Weak" (2000), melodic and catchy
- Sabaton: "Primo Victoria" (2005), power metal about history
- Amon Amarth: "Twilight of the Thunder God" (2008), Viking themes and big riffs
- Meshuggah: "Bleed" (2008), complex rhythms that inspired a whole style
- Ghost: "Square Hammer" (2016), theatrical heavy rock with huge hooks
Want to know more about the different styles? Read our guide to types of metal music.
