Swedish heavy metal duo Century may have only formed in 2020, but they’ve showcased over the course of a demo and full length that they understand the appeal of the formative period of heavy metal and hard rock extremely well and could also put their own spin on it. 2023’s The Conquest of Time felt like it could have been ripped out of the early 80s from a recording standpoint, but the songwriting showcased influences beyond that singular period and turned a lot of heads. A little over two years later, the group has returned with Sign of the Storm and showcased that those previous efforts were not flukes. This effort makes some meaningful tweaks, exploring a bit more melody and rock elements while retaining the thumping and triumphant heavy metal leads. It’s the type of album that will have you banging your head from beginning to end and then wanting to do it all over again.
From the opening notes of “Sacrifice”, it’s clear that Century can capture the same warmness and crunchier tonality of 70s hard rock and 80s heavy metal without sounding purposefully retro or dated. This is often a delicate balance for newer bands, but this duo once again pulls it off and nails that older feel while still having nuances that differentiate their material. If you’re still looking for the type of high flying and scorching heavy metal from their debut, “Sacrifice”, “Necromancer”, and “No Time for Tomorrow” keep things moving at a similar pace and have leads that grab your attention early on. But there’s additional emphasis on melody and some slower moments that sprawl outwards, which is first showcased on “Children of the Past” and “The Chains of Hell”. The former keeps the weightier tonality but slows down to more of a mid-tempo gallop, letting some of the warmer melodies expand over top of this foundation, while the latter has a mellower intro that gives off more 70s hard/progressive rock influences before the heavier elements come roaring back in. On some of the other songs these melodies are more subtle, but the way they intertwine with the heavy metal foundation is appealing and gives each song a different feel from the last. My only complaint is the placement of instrumental track “Sorceress” at the end of the album, as while it has some great riffs and the expansive melodies around the three-quarter mark that give a hint of psychedelia are appealing, the way it concludes seems better suited for an interlude than a closer. Some of that may be personal preference though, and the bulk of the material has so many stand-out riffs that this doesn’t hold back things too much.
Staffan Tengnér’s vocals are another area that differentiates Century from some of their peers, as his pitch is a bit airier and hovers over the recording at times. That’s not to say that the performance is too mellow, as songs like “Necromancer” showcase that Tengnér can hit some falsettos that are just as powerful and room filling as any other heavy metal vocalist out there. But the approach gives Sign of the Storm a feel that’s somewhere between NWOBHM, earlier Swedish heavy metal, and some of the more somber hard rock from the 70s/80s. Some of my favorite moments are on tracks like “The Chains of Hell” where a healthy amount of reverb makes it sound like the singing is all around you, as if you’re hearing unknown voices emanating from a murky crypt. On both the vocal and instrumental front, Century nails that mysterious and moodier tone that a lot of early heavy metal went for.
Depending on your specific tastes, I could see some people favoring The Conquest of Time slightly over this effort but that doesn’t matter too much when both albums are so strong. Century continues to capture a very specific period of heavy metal and hard rock, and they not only have stand-out leads and melodies but also put their own spin on things that makes it feel like more than a re-tread. This album may have dropped in January, but I expect to get plenty of mileage out of it as the year progresses and it’ll be exciting to hear what tweaks this duo makes by the time they get to full-length number three. Sign of the Storm is available from Electric Assault Records and Dying Victims Productions.
-Review by Chris Dahlberg