OPETH‘s Mikael Åkerfeldt has paid tribute to Ragne Wahlquist, guitarist and vocalist for HEAVY LOAD, who died earlier this month on the age of 69.
On Wednesday (January 8),Mikael took to the OPETH social media to put in writing: “RAGNE WAHLQUIST, 1955-2025. REST IN PEACE. It’s with heavy coronary heart we are saying farewell to HEAVY LOAD frontman/singer/guitarist Ragne Wahlquist. As I am penning this I have never been totally capable of fathom this horrible loss. I first met Ragne throughout one of many notorious kubb-tournaments (hosted by Peder & Ewa. Thanks!) collectively together with his brother (and HEAVY LOAD drummer) Styrbjörn Wahlquist.
“Ragne was a wonderful character. Witty, sharp, poetic, decided and only a very good and provoking individual and musician. He a buddy I lament I did not have the time to get to know higher. I texted with the brothers on new years day wishing them each a ‘pleased new yr’ and received a ‘thanks’ and a stupendous poem again from Ragne. Little did I do know that was the final I used to be ever going to listen to from him. I (on behalf of OPETH) prolong our warmest condolences to Styrbjörn and the remainder of the Wahlquist household in addition to to his pals and followers.
“HEAVY LOAD are Sweden’s first Heavy Metallic band and in addition contributed to the scene outdoors of their very own music by working Thunderload studios. Ragne additionally authored the 2 epic books ‘The Wahlgaard Saga Pt 1 & 2’. A venture I do know he was extremely fond and happy with, and is nicely value investigating. Ragne (nor Styrbjörn) by no means compromised with something associated to his artistry and creativity. Regardless of the hardship that comes with this stance within the business world of music and artwork, it actually calls for ones respect.
“I skilled this dedication when Ragne and Styrbjörn kindly invited me over to Thunderload studios to listen to a tough mixture of their newest masterpiece ‘Riders Of The Historical Storm’. It was unimaginable! Simply to sit down there and eat cinnamon rolls and drink espresso with these two legends of heavy metallic would have been nicely (or greater than) sufficient for me. However to then get a pre-release listening to their first document since 1983!? It was superior to the purpose of absurdity. The brothers have been so proud (as they need to be). They handled me with such respect and heat that day (and each different time we met). I’ll always remember it.
“Ragne‘s music will certainly proceed to shake the very foundations of Valhalla! He might be sorely missed!”
In keeping with SVT, Ragne and his youthful brother Styrbjörn have been in the course of recording HEAVY LOAD‘s fifth album on the time of Ragne‘s demise. The intention is to finish the album and to hold the band ahead.
It’s typically believed that HEAVY LOAD was the band that began the Swedish wave of heavy metallic in the course of the Seventies — their first album was launched in 1978. They’re additionally thought of to be the primary Viking metallic band on this planet.
HEAVY LOAD was established in Stockholm in the course of the grim winter of 1974-1975 by the 2 brothers Ragne (vocals, guitars and keyboards) and Styrbjörn (vocals and drums). The imaginative and prescient and the fervour of the Wahlquist brothers was at all times the kernel of the band’s audacious drive; its drive to enterprise out on musical journeys and to unfold their music to the world. The Viking heritage has been an necessary supply of inspiration ever since their childhood. The brothers’ emotional connection to individuals of a distant previous, individuals with whom they share eternal human challenges, was destined to search out an outlet of their music. As a consequence, the brothers merged Seventies onerous rock with Viking settings and sentiments, ensuing within the band’s distinctive fashion of music and lyrics: Viking metallic — a method which got here to encourage later bands in Sweden and elsewhere.
HEAVY LOAD launched its first album, “Full Pace At Excessive Degree”, throughout an period when the Swedish media and document business claimed that onerous rock was useless and that the band was doomed to fail. The Wahlquist brothers’ imaginative and prescient has at all times been the core of what HEAVY LOAD was all about. So after increasing the band with a second guitarist, they based their very own recording facility, the well-known Thunderload Studios, together with their very own label, Thunderload Information. On their very own label, they launched timeless classics equivalent to “Metallic Conquest” (1981),“Dying Or Glory” (1982) and “Stronger Than Evil” (1983) by HEAVY LOAD.
In 2023, HEAVY LOAD launched a Fortieth-anniversary comeback album, “Riders Of The Historical Storm”. “Stronger Than Evil” was additionally made obtainable to stream on Spotify for the primary time, together with six bonus tracks from the 2018 album reissue.
At their Thunderload recording facility, the Wahlquist brothers recorded CANDLEMASS’s legendary debut album “Epicus Doomicus Metallicus”, together with LPs from HAMMERFALL and Yngwie Malmsteen.
