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The
Holy Grail is the re-release of Heavy Lord’s 2004 self-released
demo. It used to be that whenever you heard the word
‘demo’ you would be smart to expect absolutely awful
recordings, but times have changed and that’s no longer
the case. Even for a recording that is close to seven
years old, the Holy Grail, sound wise, stands proudly
alongside any other newly recorded piece of doom. To
entice the purchase, the nice Russian folks of Solitude
Productions have added one bonus track titled “Get Down
There You Witch” which was tracked in 2008 and, truth be
told, is the best song of all. I haven’t had the pleasure
of hearing Heavy Lord’s From Cosmos To Chaos or
Chained to the World, and this songs isn’t
featured in either, but if the sounds in question give
you a clue of the path these guys followed, then these Dutchmen must be proud.
As it is the
case with many debuts, The Holy Grail sounds a bit green. Sure,
doom can be simple but its simplicity must be backed by depth.
More clearly, some of these tracks lack personality, a clear
identity that would separate Heavy Lord from the obvious
influencers (from Goatsnake to EyeHateGod and a slew of more
darkened acts). “Magician of Black Chaos” has a great title, but
the riff that kicks off this 8-minute track sounds like a rehash even
when it goes through a couple of phases. More basic but far
cooler is the bluesy vibe of “Baphomet’s March” with its warm
guitar notes right next to all the low end.
“Gods of
Doom” is like 19th century doom, if there was such a thing.
Rustic starts of drums and bass build up a song with the classic
cut. Nothing new here, in fact this has been heard a few dozen
times, but the right attitude and the mean asshole vocals of
simply Steve engage in a groove, the final stoner groove that
most doom acts are either afraid of stepping into or unable to
tap into because of a lack of talent, and the result is the most
memorable track of the album.
“Get Down
There You Bitch” is the new song and features a reenergized
sound. It’s like them boys were bitten by a zombie and got
rabid. Yeah, somewhere along the line they fall back to their mean grooves.
This time
around the riff is grander and the grander the riffs the deeper
the cuts. The pace is more assured and the vocals have a bit of
Down on them. This is good,. Wise move from the label by tacking
this song at the end. Man, I am hurrying off to get the other
albums.
Official Site
MySpace
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