Monolith webzine (Greece)
www.Monolith.gr

According to my mind, these guys want the best result for their work so far
This CD lasts over 50 minutes. Which indicates that we have to do with a slow band. Dutch doomsters, indeed. Heavy Lord, is their name. "The Holy Grail" had been recorded in "The Yellow Tape" studio, Gent (Belgium). According to my mind, these guys want the best result for their work so far. They didn't want to record it at their home studio/room. Yep, right decision. The aim often brings the best result.
Let's speak about music though. "The Holy Grail" is an intro. Slowly it fills your universe with despair. Followed by "Dopesmoking Days", a very nice and well-doomed anthem. The vocals vary from melodic to pre-brutal. "Magician Of Black Chaos" starts slowly, turns into a mid-tempo and just before the lyrics, slowness enters again. As about the voice, sludge vocals (not so distorted as Burning Witch or Khanate) plus straight doomed. What do I prefer? You'll read below. The song continues and ends in a rhythmic tempo, filled with drumming. Here's my critical claim. I have to declare at first, that I don't like sludge. But that's not my conflict. My antithesis comes from the mix of sludgy and straight vocals. I can't stand it for more than one CD. Another point is the mixed up influences. Cathedral (of The Ethereal Mirror era) plus (early) Sleep is a marriage more than welcome. But the new sludge and doomcore bands are not my favourite. And all these together under the same doomy sky... Seems too much!
The fourth song is "Baphomet's March". It's a tribute to bands like Crowbar, Eyehategod etc. Nice one, but we are full of these groups around, dudes! "Gods Of Doom" continues from the point where the previous one stopped. Alright, a cool one. "F.T.S.S." is the last one. Timeless, slowness, hopelessness and desolation are the feelings this track evokes.
The whole promo has many influences. Most of them are heard by the first note. That's OK. Cause, I can hear the Heavy Lord's footsteps coming from behind. To close this point of view, here's my well-meant opinion and in case you're interested, read it: Clear out your minds and influences Dutch dudes! Separate your Sleep-ish from your Crowbar-ish sounds and concentrate on your own ideas. Choose between Sleep, Cathedral, Reverend Bizarre, Electric Wizard and Crowbar, Eyehategod, Grief, Ramesses etc. Try it and you won't loose. That's my own review. Smells doom!

www.heavylord.tk

Rate: 9/13
[ Pentheus

What these young Dutchmen play is ultra heavy
"The Holy Grail" is the first attempt of this Dutch band to attract the attention of the doom metal audience. Indeed, it attracted my attention, but not for any good reason. This promo (consisted of six tracks) gave me the opportunity to reconsider the way some of the people conceive DOOM metal.
If Heavy Lord claim that they play doom metal, then I would suggest to them to look better at their influences. You can't enter a sky walker from the penthouse, can you? Of course what they play is close but it isn't DOOM metal. Heavy Lord and similar bands like them may experiment as long as they want with their music and explore the limits of heaviness, slowness and viciousness, but they must have in mind that evolvement leads to change. So, like the ape was evolved and was transformed into man (at least the majority, ‘cause we have some apes around us in human form), so experimentation in doom metal gave birth to something new. I don't know how it is called and it's not my job to name it. Now, let's talk about the music. What these young Dutchmen play is ultra heavy, ultra slow, but it is not doom metal, at least compared to what I know as doom metal. I am pretty sure that the friends of Sleep, Eyehategod, Yob and Crowbar will like it. I do not neglect that it has the proper production for its genre and the performance of the band members is decent. But I have two main reservations. The one was discussed in the previous section of the review and it is about the self-consciousness of the band.
The other one is about the aesthetic part of the band. If the band members think that what they present in their website as symbols and imagery are fitting in doom metal (no matter how traditional or extreme), then they are mistaken. It is totally irrelevant and aesthetically annoying (note that I do not touch the subtle issue of political beliefs, because it’s out of the music and I am not the one who will judge them). Heavy Lord is a young band and they have all the time to re-think what they want to play and to what audience they address to. They have also to think that being underground and using various trickeries won’t make them cult or something. And even if they become cult, this will not make them better than the ones who aren’t. Somehow we have built an industry that produces "cult-bands" and we have to stop it.
If we are talking about who is cult in doom metal and who is not, then unfortunately we have missed the point (if you know what I mean…)

www.heavylord.tk

Rate: 7/13
[ Messenger ]

FRET (NL)

 

Het viertal komt met overtuigende riffs en weet zijn lange arrangementen afwisselend genoeg te maken om de aandacht te blijven vasthouden.
Heavy Lord heeft zes nummers op zijn eerste cd gezet die bij elkaar een uur duren. De band uit Hellevoetsluis maakt dan ook aan stonerrock gerelateerde doom metal met veel trage ritmes, langgerekte akkoordenschema’s en een schorre zanger. Titels als Dopesmoking Days, Magician Of Black Chaos en Fuck The Shining Sun verraden dat de band tekstueel trouw is aan de doomtraditie. Muzikaal gezien houdt Heavy Lord het midden tussen de metalvariant en de logge dope-doom van bijvoorbeeld Electric Wizard. Het viertal komt met overtuigende riffs en weet zijn lange arrangementen afwisselend genoeg te maken om de aandacht te blijven vasthouden.
(Daan de Mooy)

Metal domination.net (Greece)

Contributed by Antonis Maglaras

You can imagine all the good things from a doom metal release, all these Heavy Lord use them, with their own style.
Thursday, 28 April 2005

Heavy Lord comes from Holland and this is their latest release, which has six tracks and a total duration of fifty six minutes. So we can say that it is their first self financed full length release. The band walks in doom / stoner metal paths with influences from great bands like: Electric Wizard, Crowbar, Cathedral and Goatsnake.

As you can imagine the tracks are from seven minutes up to twenty two. The band offers to us a great piece of music, with very good doom metal songs. You can imagine all the good things from a doom metal release, all these Heavy Lord use them, with their own style.

Last but not least, the production is enough good, i believe that it could be better and the sound of the recording is above average. I believe the fans of doom metal will check this album immediately because these guys deserve our attention and of course the attention from the labels.

8,5/10

Antonis Maglaras

First impressions are like a slap in the face and these guys hit fuckin hard!

 

When I hear a sample or two from particular doom bands online it leaves room for not only curiosity towards their additional tunes, but also a small amount of skepticism as to whether they can compare to what they have available to the online public. In regards to Heavy Lord's debut CD, The Holy Grail, I found myself extremely pleased with the outcome. This young group of doomers from the Netherlands carry out the legacy of doom set before them by their mentors and peers.... and they carry it well.

First impressions are like a slap in the face and these guys hit fuckin hard! The entire album is engorged with slow, droned out guitar riffs that present an undeniable sense of melancholy from start to finish. Baphomet's March is by far one of my favourite tunes from the album. The drumming skills are extremely pronounced in this track, and I believe the entire band demonstrates a doomed out unity that fits together comfortably. Accompany this with some grindingly miserable guitars, low tuned sludgy bass and vocals I can not begin to praise enough and you have yourself the essence of doom. To touch base on the vocals, this man has a set of pipes that will reduce you to tears. Steve brings together so many different qualities as a vocalist that it almost blows my mind. It's difficult to describe in words but in my opinion he gives off an almost sleazy sound followed by this remarkable demonic growl that rips your heart out!

One track which I can not possibly fail to mention is Fuck The Shining Sun. This track sees Heavy Lord working with guest vocalist Steve McMillan from Thee Plague of Gentleman. To sum up F.T.S.S.... sludgy, depressive guitar work, vocals that'll make you weep, supported by some ball breaking drum beats. This song starts out heavy and grinds down gradually with some totally pissed off whispering vocals that leave you feeling the misery. Killer lyrics! Definitely a super doom song to complete the album The Holy Grail.

Keeping in mind the overall young age of this group of doomers, and the fact that this is there debut, I can honestly say I expect great things to come from Heavy Lord. Props to Lis Holmerg who has encased The Holy Grail with his cover artwork. The imagery is without a doubt a worthy visual to accompany the feeling of dread that is Heavy Lord. I eagerly await their next release and without hesitation recommend The Holy Grail to anyone who considers doom to be their preferred genre of metal.

Forever Doomed,

Kitty

Australia

Roadburn (NL)

if the typical doom is too slow
for your liking, then keep an eye out for this demo.

www.Roadburn.com

Dutch doomsters Heavy Lord make a strong claim for a
full-length with this well-crafted demo

Doom, doom and more doom. Well, doom with a kick, really. The band's hard
hitting drums keep the faster-than-usual pace as the blisterings riffs chop
their way through the passing seconds. There's also lots of feedback and
guitar-sustain as well as growling vocals which sets these Dutch-doomsters
apart from
most of their traditional doom peers. Instead, Heavy Lord will appeal to
fans of shredded-throat singers like Burning Witch, Eyehategod, Iron Monkey
and Thee Plague of Gentlemen.
"
The Holy Grail" is pretty well executed, and if the typical doom is too slow
for your liking, then keep an eye out for this demo. Hopefully the band will
release a full-length, Heavy Lord is up to it.
dr jones

this dutch four piece shows a more “human” approach than the media of this genre and they include nice melodies in their never boring songs.

Benzo World Italy

 

If a band thanks in its biography for inspiration bands like Electric Wizard, Eye hate God, Cathedral and Yob, I think there are no doubts about the music played in this album. The two minutes of the starting title track are enough to understand that Heavy Lord plays lysergic doom, the kind of doom that I adore. Songs that has the slowliness and heaviness of an elephant. But here we haven’t another band playing in the Sleep/Electric Wizard style without any variations on the theme. Of course, there are ultradoom parts and sludgy riffs, but this dutch four piece shows a more “human” approach than the media of this genre and they include nice melodies in their never boring songs. An interesting surprise is the presence of great guitar solo lines, a very rare case in this kind of music (lysergic doom usually point to daze the listener with repetitive/monolithic riffs). All the songs are very good (and also the production is OK, very brillant), and I think that a special mention must be fo the final “F.T.S.S.”, along piece de resistance (26 minutes). After a starting doom part we listen a long harping intermezzo with a dreadful atmosphere (recalling something of the mighty Devil Doll), and then the band plays a groovy doom rock in the Kyuss vein. The best way to end this intersting CD. So, contact the band, you won’t be disapponted.

(MARCO CAVALINI)

 

http://www.benzoworld.com/

The themes, the riffs, the vocals, the grooviness, it's all there.

DOOM-METAL.COM

From Hellevoetsluis, the Netherlands, hails the Heavy Lord. The Heavy Lord loves sludge, and the Heavy Lord loves DOOM. That's basically all you need to know about this fine self-released piece of work. But those two words probably aren't enough to convince everyone, so allow me to clarify the matter.

Heavy Lord is a young four-piece that dedicates its music to the gods of DOOM, which include Electric Wizard and Crowbar. That this is a suitable dedication quickly becomes clear when one hears this album. Quite simply these are six songs that brim with energy and, above all, heaviness. The themes, the riffs, the vocals, the grooviness, it's all there.

The songs contain great riffs, interesting tempo changes (headbanging is compulsory!) and highly varied vocals. The last thing is emphasized by the appearance of Thee Plague of Gentlemen's Steve McMillan as guest vocalist on 'Fuck The Shining Sun' (in case you were wondering what F.T.S.S. stood for, there you have it).

This is no clone band, this simply a band doing a good thing, and that is operating within a tradition that is loved by a good few, instead of trying to follow a certain trend or movement within metal or music in general. As such, this is highly underground stuff, but nevertheless the album has a good sound quality for a self-release. And, I may say it often, but this is one of those bands you'd have to see live to fully appreciate.

In short, this is nothing too spectacular or innovating, but it is definitely great music for those who have a taste for Doom in the vein of aforementioned bands and also bands like Unearthly Trance or Warhorse. These people will certainly not be disappointed by The Holy Grail and I warmly recommend this release.

In a few words Heavy Lord mixes the traditional doom of the 90s, with sludge elements and some groovier parts and they do it the right way.

http://www.symphonyofsteel.net-Italy

Heavy Lord from The Netherlands and their debut self financed CD “The Holy Grail” was a big surprise for my ears. In their music we can listen a mix of traditional doom metal stuff –slow and heavy-, mixed with some sludge moments here and there and all these under a dark mystic atmosphere that is spread around their music.
The spirit of Electric Wizard creeps –sometimes- around the compositions when they get even slower, but on the groovier parts of their music they brought to my mind some cult traditional bands of the 90s like Internal Void and Cold Mourning (maybe the guys have checked the cult split CD that their partners Officium Triste –also from the Netherlands- have released with Cold Mourning some years ago).
The same titled instrumental / introduction track opens the CD with its doomy main riff. It is followed by the “Dopesmoking Days” track which starts in a fucking creeping, slow tempo just to get a little bit groovier a few minutes later. After that song and for the next 8 minutes and 46 seconds the listener will remain under the spell of the “Magician Of The Black Chaos”, again this song begins with a doomy riff in slow tempo, it becomes faster just for a while but then it slows down again. In this song we can hear some sludge elements in -slow and heavy- guitars and the vocals –they cut like razors-. During the last 3 minutes the song gets even groovier with riffs that bring to our minds no other than Black Sabbath.
The journey to the world of Heavy Lord continues with “Baphomet’s March” which is probably the most traditional doom song of the whole CD, nice tune and good riffs with no doubt. Two songs have left until the journey finishes and those last two songs can be mentioned as the darker part of the CD. “Gods Of Doom” with its haunting introduction is the ideal entering to the darker side. Raw vocals, a monolithic guitar theme in the beginning and a groovier but still doomy metal riff later on are some of the elements of this song.
The final chapter is the greater one and it is no other than the song “F.T.S.S.”. Well here we got to deal with 22:47 minutes of total doom. Every single second of this song in dived in total darkness. Just listen to the atmospheric part -somewhere before the middle of the song- that last for a few minutes and is enforced with haunted clean guitar themes and whispers and you will realize that this band is capable of creating great music painted with the darker colors. Except this great part we can hear –for one more time- heavy and slow riffs, raw vocals, sludge breakings and a rhythm section heavy as hell. In this track some extra vocals have been done by Steve McMillan (Thee Plague Of Gentlemen).
In a few words Heavy Lord mixes the traditional doom of the 90s, with sludge elements and some groovier parts and they do it the right way. This is still their first musical effort and of course they can improve some things –for example the vocals can be heard more physical especially in their rawer and aggressive parts- but I am sure that in the future they will become even better. Check out this CD if you are looking for some good doom and dark stuff.

CountRaven

Een uitstekend debuut dus waarbij de bedrukkende sfeer die The Holy Grail oproept de pluim op dit werk is!

Speaker
www.popunie.nl

De vier jonge heren van Heavy Lord uit Hellevoetsluis acteren sinds eind 2003 in het altijd hitgevoelige genre doom/stoner metal. Denk hierbij aan bands als EyeHateGod, Candlemass en Saint Vitus, die eind jaren ’80 de combinatie van doom en stoner op de muzikale kaart zetten. Het eerste album van Heavy Lord, ‘The Holy Grail’, bevat geheel in de nostalgische traditie een zestal tracks die met speels gemak de 50 minuten volkrijgen. Ritmes zo traag als dikke stront, lage akkoordenschema’s, massieve gitaarriffs en schorre vocalen zijn wel besteed aan Yef, 808, Steven en Wes Lee. Maar het is gelukkig niet louter de derde bergversnelling wat de klok slaat, ook afwisselende arrangementen met up-tempo stukken en minder zware zanglijnen komen voorbij. Een uitstekend debuut dus waarbij de bedrukkende sfeer die The Holy Grail oproept de pluim op dit werk is!

RONALD

There's no mistaking the black solar flare riffs that come off slomo from your speakers and send you into a THC trance.
http://fishcomcollective.net

Heavy Lord couldn't have chosen a better name. It's a classic sounding moniker that sounds like it belongs on the cover of a riff-heavy but clean-vocaled doom metal band, and that's exactly what it is. There's no mistaking the black solar flare riffs that come off slomo from your speakers and send you into a THC trance. Lumbering, heavy guitars, solid percussion and well executed sung vocals blend in this atmospheric, classy example of what good sludged-out stoner metal should sound like. Grab your blunds and hit the play button.

review written by: Upchuck Undergrind

Heavy Lord een band waar je heerlijk op kunt relaxen met een flinke pot bier in je klauwen.

ZWARE METALEN

Als je uit Hellevoetsluis woont moet je wel zwaar depressief en aan de whisky en drugs raken. En voor de leden van Heavy Lord is dat maar goed ook, zodoende zijn de vier heren namelijk in aanraking gekomen met de sludgy doom die momenteel voornamelijk vanuit Amerika komt, maar in Nederland ook wel gespeeld wordt door bands als Lahar en Mary Bell. Flink leunen op bands als Black Sabbath, Sleep, St. Vitus en Grief, versterkers lekker ranzig hard en vooral niet teveel nadenken of alles wel strak of technisch genoeg is. Gewoon lekkere ultralogge gitaarriffs, zompige bass en drums en een rokerige zang, die af en toe ook lekker in een schreeuw uithaalt.

De sound van Heavy Lord is verre van origineel, maar dat boeit in principe niet echt in deze stijl, gaat meer om de feel van de muziek, en die is dik in orde. Lekker ranzig, mottig en zompig geluid waarbij je de eigenaar van de oefenruimte of studio waar de heren opnemen en oefenen al zorgelijk ziet kijken naar zijn dure apparatuur. Voor de Nederlandse liefhebber van sludge/doom is Heavy Lord een band waar je heerlijk op kunt relaxen met een flinke pot bier in je klauwen.

Jan Hendriksen

Attenzione a dove mettere le mani, la materia degli Heavy Lord è bollente e pericolosa

perkele.it & noizeitalia.com

Olanda, terra dei sogni. È ormai tornata la visione orange, l'esplosione di una musica forte e magmatica, che trova nei Paesi Bassi uno dei suoi territori d'elezione. Se però negli anni '90 era stata la psichedelia heavy di fantastiche band come 35007, 7Zuma7, Beaver e Celestial Season a farci esaltare, oggi sembra esserci un cambiamento di rotta. Non più stoner tirato e lisergico ma doom sì psichedelico, ma anche dannatamente ossessivo e pesante.
Dopo la sorpresa Toner Low torniamo infatti a meravigliarci con gli Heavy Lord, il cui nome è tutto un programma. Un possente dio del doom che nulla concede al lato peccaminoso e onirico dell'Olanda ma inonda le nostre orecchie di un suono feroce, titanico, gigantesco. Vengono in mente gli Electric Wizard, gli Sleep, qualcosa degli Yob. Ma è giusto per dare delle linee di percorso, perché l'abilità dei quattro è davvero elevata. Se non fosse per qualche pecca nelle parti vocali e per la registrazione a volte poco incisiva, qui ci sarebbero già tutti i presupposti per una band da amare e osannare.
L'incipit funereo della title track è qualcosa di malefico, un assaggio per prepararci al viaggio che ci attende. "Dopesmoking days" è la prima perla: heavy doom stordente, ad alto voltaggio psicotropo, dominato dalle chitarre mastodontiche di Jeff e Wes e da una suadente melodia vocale che si insinua subdola nel cervello. Stesso schema usato per "Baphomet's march", andamento soffocante che si imprime in mente fin dal primo ascolto. "Magician of black chaos" è invece psycho sludge doom da panico metropolitano, le ritmiche accelerano (ottima la coppia formata da Steve - basso - e Wout - batteria -) e le nostre residue speranze di salvezza vengono sepolte sotto una coltre di riff funerei e feedback angoscianti. "Gods of doom" è l'omaggio agli dei del destino, un brano da amare come si fa con una "Funeralopolis" di memoria Electric Wizard. Passaggio conclusivo verso i 22 minuti di "F.T.S.S.", consacrazione/immolazione al sigillo nero del DOOM, un percorso di salvazione che passa per il martirio, dove le vocals lancinanti del sacro cerimoniere Steve (direttamente dai Thee Plague Of Gentleman) sanciscono la definitiva fine di questo buio trip.
Attenzione a dove mettere le mani, la materia degli Heavy Lord è bollente e pericolosa. Come raccomandato dalla band stessa, Heavy Lord plays ULTRA LOUD.