Heavy Load was a trio from Stockholm and the first Swedish heavy metal band. It was founded in Stockholm in 1976 by brothers Ragne (voc, g, keyb) and Styrbjörn Wahlquist (dr) and bassist Michael Backlund. A year later, they signed a record deal and recorded their debut album Full Speed At High Level, on which Dan Molén replaced Backlund on bass. The band, which pioneered the Swedish heavy metal movement, played progressive hard rock and metal with unconventional musical ideas and English lyrics that foreshadowed the NWOBHM sound, which emerged in the UK a year later. It was released in early 1978 on the small Swedish label Heavy Sound with an artistically elaborate cover in a small edition of only about 1,000 copies, which made the album a rarity even at the time of its release.

Despite the enthusiasm of local fans and the support of journalist and band's manager Anders Tenger, their first LP was not a commercial success. Furthermore, the record company Heavy Sound went bankrupt, prompting the Wahlquist brothers to found their own label for the two subsequent albums. This debut album by the cult band, rare and expensive on original vinyl, is now considered a catalyst for the later subgenres of Nordic metal and Viking metal.