House Of Heavy is the Swedish duo of Henrik Lundberg and Mattias Wellhag, and their self-titled debut is a digital only release, at least in North America. There's no need to worry about quality issues here. House Of Heavy is a solid traditional metal CD.
There are a lot of elements of '80s style melodic metal in House Of Heavy's sound, such as catchy hooks, singalong choruses and glossy production. They also add modern elements and more of the heaviness that's in their name.
The songs on House Of Heavy range from arena rock anthems like "Pure" to harder edged tracks like "Warpaint" to slower ballad style numbers like "God Vs. God." They also break out a cover song, doing an updated version of Def Leppard's "Billy's Got A Gun." It's a faithful rendition with a little more bombast and punch than the original.
House Of Heavy would have been huge in the '80s, but these days their brand of melodic metal isn't in quite as much demand. Still, House Of Heavy is an enjoyable disc with a lot of catchy songs.
(released February 3, 2009 on Metal Blade Records)
