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Sweden's Leviticus came into existence back in 1981, called its quits in 1990 and came back again in 2003, after a 13-year hiatus. So far, Leviticus has put out four full-length studio albums, with the second, The Strongest Power from 1985, considered their strongest effort. I never really paid attention to Leviticus during the 80's, although the name was familiar to me. It was always other early Swedish Heavy Metal bands such as Heavy Load, Axe Witch, Proud or 220 Volt that were always there for me because, back in those days, their albums were more easily available in Finnish record stores.

Now the small and independent Finnish record label Ektro Records has decided to head over to the vast graveyard of old, classic and nearly forgotten Swedish Heavy Metal albums, and has dug up Leviticus' most well-known album for a re-release (the album was already re-released by M8 Records in 2000, with 4 bonus tracks). I can easily see why The Strongest Power caused a fuss when it album was originally released in 1985. It is full of outstanding, hard rocking Heavy Metal that is not sugarcoated one bit and is very masculine sounding throughout. Leviticus keep things simple but amazingly catchy, trusting the power of strong choruses, good and sticky riffs and overall writing quality Heavy Metal anthems. While songs like "On the Rock" and "A New Day" represent Leviticus' hard rock formula, it's songs like "Deborah and Barak" and "King of Kings" that showcase them as one of the heaviest sounding Metal bands in the whole world, at that time, with some semi-epic, NWOBHM-tinged sounds woven into their songs. In a way, Leviticus' approach on The Strongest Power reminds me of Finland's OZ wrapped around some bluesy, Hard Rock, à la Whitesnake or even Van Halen (just listen to "Stay with Us"). The Strongest Power is undoubtedly one of the most important cornerstones of Swedish Heavy Metal, so this is an album you should check out if you haven't done so already.

Now I know what I have been missing for all these years. Well, better late than never.