Dead Lord

Formed in Stockholm during 2012, the Swedish outfit Dead Lord drew its initial members together through a mutual appreciation for straightforward hard rock: Hakim Krim handling vocals and guitars, Olle Hedenström on guitars, Martin Nordin on bass, and Adam Lindmark behind the drums. That same year the quartet surfaced with a sound rooted in the cocky attitude and riff-heavy approach of classic rock and late-seventies metal. Their first full-length effort, Goodbye Repentance, appeared in 2013 via Germany's High Roller Records.

The release soon attracted the notice of Century Media, Sony's dedicated heavy-metal label, which signed the band and put out the well-received follow-up Heads Held High in 2015. Rich with driving grooves, fiery dual-guitar lines, and anthemic choruses, that album broadened Dead Lord's audience while the group kept refining its Thin Lizzy-, Kiss-, and UFO-steeped style across the politically charged In Ignorance We Trust in 2017 and the blues-inflected Surrender in 2020.