Heavy Lord - The Holy Grail

Rating: 8.4

Country: Netherlands

Genre: Stoner Doom

Release Date: 2009

Track list:
1. The Holy Grail
2. Dope Smoking Daze
3. Magician of Black Chaos
4. Baphomets March
5. Gods Of Doom
6. F.T.S.S.

Total playing time 56:16

Band Website: Heavy Lord

Heavy Lord - The Holy Grail

Steven - Lead vocals & bass
Jeff - Guitars
Wes Lee - Guitars & background vocals
Walter - Drums

Is it yet time to bow down before Heavy Lord, worshippers of stoner doom? Their demo The Holy Grail, now released in spectacular fashion by Solitude Productions, makes a good case for taking to one's knees, at least for those of us who've been to Jerusalem and already been prostrate before the Dopethrone.

Heavy Lord brings a rather interesting sound to their stoner doom. The guitars are heavy, really fucking heavy in fact, but whereas other stoner doom bands usually choose one of two tracks, hard rock riffs massively distorted ala Turambar, or pure doom riffs massively distorted ala Yob, Heavy Lord are pulling some serious sludge into their distortion. The ghost of old Crowbar shows its ugly visage in "Dope Smoking Daze" while "Gods of Doom" trolls the same fetid waters as Bongzilla. The swing and groove in these riffs and thence in these songs, gives this album a propulsive feel that's a little at odds with stoner doom's often stoned wanderings; instead this is forceful and mean like great sludge metal.

The eighteen minute plus "F.T.S.S." is a resin-coated stoner doom monster that encapsulates what I mentioned earlier. Classic rock leads over a nice, heavy riff, play like Ocean Chief on whiskey and downers, then starting at about seven minutes, Heavy Lord slides into a some quiet Sabbathian contemplation (think "Orchid" or "Planet Caravan") before erupting almost eight minutes later into a Grief-infected slow motion sludge doom beatdown. Few bands can get away with writing tracks this long and even fewer can make them memorable and worth multiple listens. Heavy Lord succeeds by combining serious heaviness with some southern rock styling's and groove for the best song on a very good album.

If I do have one complaint though, it's the vocals of Steve. A cross between a clean singing Phil Anselmo, Wino and Kirk Windstein, they can be off-putting at times, not reaching the same force as the music. There just isn't much power behind them; they lack the range of Mike Scheidt (YOB) and Eric Wagner (Trouble) and they're not as batshit loony as Dixie Dave (Weedeater) or Muleboy (Bongzilla). The screams of Wes Lee are pretty good, but otherwise the vocals occupy the tepid middle ground of just being listenable. They might not detract from the music, but nether do they add to its power or catchiness (I'll admit to liking a good sing-a-long chorus in my stoner doom-I love chanting to "The Satanic Rites of Drugula" or howling along to "Champagne and Reefer," Bongzilla's awesome cover of the Muddy Waters' tune).

Solitude Productions did a great job on the packaging for a demo re-release. A sixteen page glossy booklet, full color inlay and a newly recorded bonus track make this an almost mandatory purchase if you like your stoner doom heavy, dirty and mean. Heavy Lord is a name I had seen before, and this CD gives me good reason to check out their newer full lengths.

The Holy Grail may not be the best stoner doom record of the decade, or even the year it was released, but it's still pretty damn good. Heavy Lord can a write a fuckin' riff almost as well as anyone active out there in the doom wilderness, and good riffs are what this music always comes down to. While the vocals aren't to my liking, they really aren't that bad, I'd just prefer more craziness or more tunefulness. Still, this puts Heavy Lord on a short list of stoner doom bands worth following, and it's kinda funny that a five year old demo re-release turns out to be on of the better doom records I heard in 2009.

January 1, 2010