Review: Templar: Conquering Swords
Release date: 27 February 2026
Label: Jawbreaker Records
7–10 minutes
Gage J. Tolin
Sweden’s heavy metal warriors TEMPLAR return from the forge with their highly awaited debut full-length album, “Conquering Swords” – a triumph of steel, melody, and unyielding spirit. Out February 27th 2026 on Jawbreaker Records, this album sees TEMPLAR fully realize the potential shown on their “Black Knight” demo and “Treacherous Beast” single, striking with the precision and might of seasoned conquerors.
Recorded under the guiding hand of Staffan Tengnér (Century), “Conquering Swords” carries that unmistakable warmth and authenticity that you’ll recognize from the “Treacherous Beast” 7″ as well as Century’s albums. The production balances raw energy with clarity, allowing every soaring guitar harmony and pounding bassline to shine through. The final blade was sharpened by Patrick W. Engel at Temple of Disharmony, whose mastering lends the album its thunderous and timeless power.
Across its ten tracks, “Conquering Swords” leads listeners through a world of high adventure and medieval grandeur – a realm where valor, betrayal and destiny collide. Dual guitars blaze like clashing steel, while galloping rhythms and anthemic choruses summon visions of distant fortresses and moonlit battlefields. In short, TEMPLAR continue to tend to the flame of true Heavy Metal first ignited by Heavy Load and other golden era bands from the First Wave of Swedish Heavy Metal.
With Isak Neffling’s commanding vocals and thundering bass, Mille Lundström’s relentless drumming, and the dueling guitars of Teddy Edoff and Gustav Harrysson, Templar are raiding the banner of Heavy Metal high – pure, unfiltered heavy metal with heart, honor, and hooks to spare. So raise your swords and heed the call to arms! The conquest begins February 27th, 2026.
For fans of: Century, Heavy Load, Onyx, Overdrive, Mercyful Fate and Axewitch.
LINE-UP
Isak Neffling – Vocals & Bass
Gustav Harrysson – Guitars
Teddy Edoff – Guitars
Mille Lundström – Drums
Review
“Gates of Angmar (Intro)” began with the tolling of a bell and some appropriate ambiance that sounded ripped straight out of an 80s movie like Conan or Krull (underrated movie btw). The galloping of horses hooves patter along as the synth-laden introduction builds to a crescendo alongside booming drums. A disembodied voice of pure evil snarls out some dark lines, though its own corruption made its worse impossible to decipher, but it could only beckon doom.
With a sizzling riff “Witchking” kicked off with a bang, followed closely by an evil laugh and a truly dastardly lead riff that conveyed the same sense of dread as the initial riff in Black Sabbath’s eponymous track or Venom’s “Don’t Burn the Witch”. In fact, while Templar’s sound is undoubtedly rooted in their forefathers of the epic metal scene like Heavy Load and Manilla Road, there is a pronounced Venom influence throughout that I found oddly refreshing. In a way, rather than epic metal, this almost sounds like just evil power metal, there’s such a degree of malice behind every note of the guitars, every thump of the bass, and every crash of the drums. Neffling’s quieter approach to the vocals here give it an even greater sense of foreboding. Including the intro track alongside it, it’s one hell of a mood-setter to start off!
“Excalibur” showcased another strong riff, but also some disgusting (good thing) basslines that really shined a spotlight on the production and mixing for the bass in particular. It reminds me a lot of one of my favorite bass tones on an album, Satan’s Court in the Act (which I now realize is another act of whom Templar draws from). The evilness of the prior two tracks is somewhat prevalent still here, but in a different light, here it feels less all-encompassing and more subtle. Almost as though here we see the tale from the hero’s perspective, raising that iconic blade before they seek to vanquish evil. One of the shorter tracks on the album, but one that I found myself quite enjoying. The weird distorted ending drew my curiosity as well.
Now it’s time for the drummer to shine with “Rainbow’s End”, which started with Mille Lundström hitting his set hard and not once letting up. Moreover, I found Neffling’s vocal cadence to be a true ear-worm here, as well as where I really felt like he, and Templar’s lyrics, took center stage. Though it was certainly Lundström’s track to strut his stuff behind the kit, and he surely did, this was still chock full of an infectious chorus and some killer guitar work from the tandem twosome of Harrysson and Edoff. The Century influence is also quite strong with this one, though, as a fan of that band, that wasn’t something I had issue with.
“Exiled in Fire” had another slick guitar riff to start off, and carry on throughout the song, but again I found the production to be a true stand-out here. It gives the track, and the album as a whole, a nice amount of polish but without losing that rawness that I feel like metal should have. Really great lyrical work here, perfect stuff to imagine a scene (i pictured a dragon torching a village at one point). This was one that had its foot on the gas from the outset and never once slowed down, good stuff here.
https://youtu.be/58kapJ6OB4g
“The Sorceress” started off with a nice slow and moody guitar intro, with Neffling delivering his vocals just like the King himself (Diamond, not Elvis). The incredible sustains on the guitar in the background, accompanied nicely by the gradual thumping of the bass, gave the track a sense of mystique almost. It reminded me a bit of the rhythm portion of Scorpions “Sails of Charon”, like if you remove Uli’s incredible lead work and just focus on the bass and rhythm guitars. This change in tempo already makes the track a standout on the album, and Neffling’s vocals are a huge part of that, but the moodiness of the guitars simply propelled this one to another plane for me. The increase in speed as the track rushes to the end was the cherry on top. Great stuff, might be my favorite thus far.
In keeping with theme, “Trident” started off with another nice guitar riff, though this one more subdued than previous efforts. The prevailing gallop throughout the track gave it a nice Iron Maiden feel, and I could almost picture Bruce himself singing it. While catchy and sound all the way through, this was the shortest track on the album and did feel a bit like filler to some degree. However, it was far from what I’d call “bad”.
The three longest tracks on the album (each totaling over 5 minutes) are set to close it out, and first up is “Shipwreck”. A nice build-up gave way to a riff that I can only describe as funky, the interplay between the bass and the guitar carried an extra bit of magic along with it. This one reminded me a bit of post-reformation Angel Witch, but I couldn’t quite place as to exactly why. While another solid, if not good, track, I felt that this one plodded along just a bit too long and didn’t seem to reach that next gear that I felt like it was building towards.
“White Wolf”, which I assume to be named after Geralt of Rivia, began with a moody synth-laden intro that felt very much like the opening track for some black metal albums (Emperor springs to mind). This one leaned back into the Mercyful Fate and King Diamond side of things, something that I think Templar is exceptional at. The grooving of the guitar and the general vibes put out really harken me to my favorite tracks on the album. There’s a slight delay in the main riff that isn’t always there, but when it is, it just adds so much to the overall track.
“Conquering Swords” had a sort of dirge-like opening that was incredibly bass-heavy, some exquisite bass too, I might add. Ooh that drumroll was grand, straight outta the Manowar playbook, and the riff that followed was perfection. This same energy carried throughout the track, and it was something that I couldn’t find the right word for to describe it. “Epic” felt too overdone, but it felt the closest (“adventurous” maybe?). The incredible bridge portion where the guitars slow down and the bits of synth subtly return gave it an extra bit of flair as the track moved into its final phase, before ending with the crescendo of a thunderclap.
Conclusion
Templar’s debut full-length continues, and in some ways, perfects the style they set forth on their Treacherous Beast 7″. I was a huge fan of that little sneak preview into their career and I’m please to say that their debut is a worthy follow-up to it. Neffling’s vocals manage to be both similar and completely different on nearly every track, and on top of that, many of the tracks feature entirely different vibes to them. With a nice retro-tinged production job and absolutely littered with incredible riffs, drumming, and some seriously scintillating basslines, this is a great record. While every track may not be precisely what I want in my heavy metal, the ones that felt like they were for me all hit pretty damn hard. “The Sorceress” is probably my pick for my favorite on the album, but “Witchking” comes in a close second, followed by the final two tracks. Also, bonus points for the sick cover art, love that old-school adventure novel vibe.
TheNwothm Score: 8.5/10
Links
Bandcamp: https://jawbreakerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/conquering-swords
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/templarsweden
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/templar.band
Label: Jawbreaker Records
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