Heavy Lord - The Holy Grail (Reissue)
The Holy Grail by Dutch Doomster's Heavy Lord is a re-release of their first demo basically extended to a full length album with the inclusion of a bonus track "Get Down There You Bitch". Its a real shame that this band is still flying under the radar for most people who are into the whole Stoner Doom genre, its bizarre because they are one of the best exponents of Raw, Dirty Sludged out Doom Metal. The old school influences shine through in the analog recorded dope smoke haze and one listen will tell you they are hardly re-inventing anything within the genre but they are so powerful, the riffs so pulverizing that originality is not a issue that will concerned anyone. Vocals are hoarse and tortured, changing between gravely bellowing and agonized screams and this serves its purpose adequately to create a claustrophobic feeling, and as such the sound is better than average for a what is essentially a demo recording. There is bursts of aggression among the mostly dirge based Stoner Doom and they even manage to squeeze in some Psychedelic touches here and there. Highlights include "Magician Of Black Chaos" which is crushing in its intensity and "Dope Smoking Daze" that has one of the coolest clean then aggressive vocal sections you will ever hear. At times it gets a little repetitive but when they do it in such a trance-like manner like this you cant help but getting suck into the groove. This is obviously a drug-influenced album with lyrics like "Enter the dreamland/Joint in hand and pass it on/And then you’ll roll another one" ( Dope Smoking Daze). I think you can understand where this band is coming from. Another highlight is the eight-minute "Gods Of Doom" begins with a two-minute slow build before bringing everything crashing down on the listener's head in a Sleep like barrage of a riff.The re-release has "Get down there you bitch" as a bonus track, for which they returned to the same studio to record, giving it a better quality sound and its a great tune. Heavy Lord are a energetic and invigorating band to listen to and even though this has all the qualities of a demo recording, it still is good enough to melt eardrums. If you never bothered to check this band out, now is the time.
1. The Holy Grail
2. Dope Smoking Days
3. Magician Of Black Chaos
4. Baphomets March
5. Gods Of Doom
6. F.T.S.S.
7. Get Down There You Bitch
