Search the darkened nooks and crannies of any genre and you’ll find nuggets of wealth. Tried and true traditional heavy metal never had a visibility problem, but as I peruse heaping promo piles it doesn’t seen to have the market frothing had it had a decade ago when bands like Spirit Adrift and Haunt (somewhere between their fifth and fifteenth album) were showing just how much life the children of the NWOBHM could bring to the masses. So it’s a relief to find a band like Century not only holding the torch aloft for others to heed the call, but that they do it with a shine and polish that recalls my favorite bands of the past 40 years while maintaining a modern edge production-wise. Sign Of The Storm was an early highlight of 2025 for me, and almost a half year later still brings everything I want in my traditional heavy metal review to the fore.

Century are actually a duo, comprised of Staffan Tengnér on guitars, vocals and bass and Leo Ekström on drums, guitar and bass. Sign Of The Storm is the Swedish duo’s second album, coming after 2023’s The Conquest Of Time and the Iron Maiden vibes couldn’t be heavier without really sounding like the band at all. Listening to opener “Sacrifice” and its thick, soupy reverb laying over the guitars like a blanket I’m immediately reminded my childhood, listening to bands like Artch and Vicious Rumors and finding those driving, galloping riffs with powerful vocal hooks. That opening riff though? Pure Smith/Murray madness, and that’s a feature throughout Sign Of The Storm.

Side A continue the trend of ultra-catchy hooks and leads, with “Children Of The Past” bringing in some George Lynch/Dokken riffing and a solo that slays. It’s interesting that both Tengnér and Ekström handle guitars: while the bass and drums are perfectly fine, they are without a doubt more of a foundation or backdrop to how accomplished the guitar playing is. This is a guitar album first and foremost, with even Tengnér’s vocals – solid as they are – taking backseat to the playing. “Necromancer” plays a bit like “Sacrifice” Part II with its opening riff, but “The Chains Of Hell” after an acoustic intro goes deep into Dio territory, and I really love the heavy, doom stomp the pair bring to the track. You’ve got chains, you’ve got dream of evil…all that’s missing is a reference to a rainbow and this would have been prefect on any of RJD’s first four albums (and would have helped Sacred Heart immensely) while “Fallen Hero” has some distinct Satan vibes that could easily slide into their classic catalog.

Nothing changes on the second side, if anything the 37 minutes that makes up Sign Of The Storm gets more focused as the title track opens up its epic nature and brings to mind King Diamond (sans the falsetto shrieks) in the way it tightens the riffs up and modulates up and down based on the emotional center of the song. You also get a little more Maiden in the track’s “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” section. “Fly Away” gives me Ratt vibes in a positive way before treading back to a more standard NWOTHM template.

I’ve read other reviews for the album where influences as varied as Judas Priest and even Manowar, but to my ears there’s a distinct hard rock/gam vibe to some of the playing – maybe that’s because bands like Ratt, Dokken and more obscure rockers like Sleaz Beez and Lillian Axe were my bread and butter as a teenager, but I can’t help but hear that kind of exuberance in the band’s playing. “No Time For Tomorrow” and “Possessed By The Night” both capture specific vibes of the era, with “Possessed By The Night” arcing into Helloween speed/power territory. But where my love lies deepest is with the total Maiden-fest of “Sorceress”, its instrumental bones lifted directly from the still-living corpse of Maiden’s 80s albums. The gallop is so strong, there’s a piece of me that thinks they owe royalties, but the other side of me is absolutely giddy at how good the song is, and how well it apes its obvious influence.

Century. Sign Of The Storm. Get it.