Heavy Lord



2007 - Chained To The World

Reviews:

Maelstrom Zine
issue #62 June/July, 2008
(8,5/10)

On Chained to the World, we find a more thrash-oriented Heavy Lord and less of that sludge meets stoner amalgamation refined to almost perfection on the debut, From Cosmos to Chaos. Almost gone are the moody and muddy doom-like passages; instead, Heavy Lord has incorporated a sort of angry and hateful melodic approach most evident in atmospheric hardcore or post hardcore bands (Neurosis and its many offspring, so-to-speak).

Incessant crunchy guitars and fat, filthy bass lines hammer your skull and peel your skin; coupled with the massive yet Neanderthal drum work — the rhythm section is all you need to hear in order to bang your head to hell and back. The semi-clear, angry-as-fuck vocals antagonize and clash with the happy tunes and infuse them with misery and despair.

Heavy Lord are talented musicians and have that "total" and perfectionist approach to their art, hence they do what they do top-notch without leaving loose ends. No matter what stylistic expression they might think of and are cornered (or pigeonholed) in, their conviction, brutality and finesse (all in the same breath), are the qualities that separate their excellence from the grey mediocrity all around us. Any real metal fan, should they be into stoner, sludge, doom or thrash metal, remember: this is metal, if there ever was one; melodic, heavy, enthusiastic, and fucking beautiful!


Reviewed by: Chaim Drishner

Doom-Metal.com
(june 2008)

Chained to the World is the third Heavy Lord album, and like its predecessor From Cosmos to Chaos, it was released on Solitude Productions. In several ways, it's an improvement on the last album, but in other ways, I also found it left a bit to be desired.

First of all, the production has improved a lot since last time, giving the tracks the clean, heavy sound they deserve, and also adding a lot to the vocals. This professional sound, recorded in Void studios in Eindhoven, gives these Dutch doomsters the canvas they need for their raw, in-your-face approach to sludgy doom.

And when you listen to tracks like "Eternal Crawl" with some great clean vocals, and especially the ultra-heavy "Maelstrom" - a classic Heavy Lord track, you can hear this approach has paid off. Closing track "Waiting To Die", an uptempo headbanger, is also awesome.

At the same time, comparing it to the boundless energy of From Cosmos to Chaos, this album leaves me a bit indifferent. The band is heavy and tight as ever, but I miss a bit of developement, something which wouldn't be bad for a third album. When I see Heavy Lord live, everything falls into place, and I have a great time, but for some reason, this album doesn't quite click with me as a whole.

I can certainly recommend this to fans of the band, as they do deliver the goods, but I can't say that this is better than From Cosmos to Chaos. In other words, if you're new to the band, I would recommend the second album first.

Reviewed by: Oscar Strik

Metal Storm
(may 2008)
(9,3/10)

Sometimes a, so-called, reviewer should be really ashamed of oneself. And one of those is certainly me. First of all, for the time it took me to finally finish this review, and second of all, and most importantly, for overlooking a great, local, band. Only last November did I find out about Heavy Lord. And that happened only by accident since they replaced Eria d'Or at Dutch Doom Day 2007. Heavy Lord have been around since 2002 and Chained To The World is already their third full-length (that's including their self-released debut The Holy Grail). Released in December of 2007 and only now reviewed here on Metal Storm.
The biggest reason for me to keep on procrastinating the review of Chained To The World is the fact that this is for me an almost perfect sludge album. And somehow I wanted to find some fault with it. Well, there is one, and that is that live this band is even better than on album with a rawer bite to it than on this slab. Seeing Heavy Lord live is an experience in itself.
Since Heavy Lord crawl through the quagmire of the sludge netherworlds expect good old Black Sabbath influences. But thank God they have managed to make them into a sound of their own thus only paying tribute to the grand ol' masters and not ripping them off. Once you have heard Heavy Lord for the very first time they are instantly recognisable. With sludge that is always a good thing.
Chained To The World is a varied offering even consisting of two pacier songs in the form of Darius II (with its midpaced thrashy opening riff) and Waiting To Die (the beginning sounding like an old school thrash song). But it is with the slow paced longer songs that Heavy Lord gets it all right. Here they take the time to build it all up so that the song sucks the listener in like a vortex of primordial ooze. Best examples being Maelstrom and Looking Into The Makers Eye. These two especially making me curse myself for discovering these Hellfeetsludgers this late.
People who think that The Netherlands' best metal is stuff such as After Forever, Within Temption, Epica, Autumn, Arjen Lucassen should be ashamed of themselves and think again. It is bands such as Detonation, Hail Of Bullets, Officium Triste, Akelei (promo to be reviewed soon), Obsidian, Non Divine and especially this Heavy Lord that make me proud to be Dutch.
Chained To The World is a sludge album that can easily compete with the best in the world. Well, yeah, why else did we as MS staff nominate it for best Sludge Album from 2007?

And for collectors of vinyl...
Heavy Lord - Chained To The World can be bought directly from the band at their website http://www.heavylord.tk it is limited to 500 copies and wieghs 180 grammes.

Reviewed by: Marcel H.

Quintessence
(4/6)

Heavy Lord is a hard working act from Hellevoetsludge (Hellevoetsluis) in the Netherlands. After a self-financed album they signed to Russia’s Solitude Productions, who released their 2006 album “From Cosmos to Chaos” which was well received. For this new album they went to the Void Studio in Eindhoven to record with Pieter Kloos, who gave them a rich and heavy sound; exactly what these guys need with their brand of sludgy doom. Musically you can place them somewhere in between acts like Down, Crowbar, ElectricWizard and similar acts. They really know how to create some fine and heavy riffs and the typical yet suitable vocals of Steve fit the music very well.
Having been able to witness a couple of songs in a live environment before hearing them recorded gave me the advantage to really think about the songs and the way they work. Most tracks are simply well written but here and there I think they should have given the compositions a bit more thought as, to me, it feels a bit like they have just pasted a riff onto the preceding riff which makes it sound a bit unnatural. This, however, is just a minor detail and only counts for some songs; most of ‘em are simply good.
Within this genre Heavy Lord are probably the best Holland has to offer at this time and for the vinyl freaks I can tell that an LP version is available too in a limited run of 500 copies.

Reviewed by: Pim Blankenstein

The Metal Crypt
(april 2008)
(3,75/5)

Here's an album that would be much better if it weren't for the vocals, or more specifically the occasional but frequent use of "mallcore meets metalcore" type of screamo vocals. This takes so much away from the music, it's unbearable (unless, of course, this type of I-need-to-take-a-shit screams are OK with you.) When the singer gets into a style that fits the Stoner/Doom on display here, things are a lot better. The vocals get as slow and heavy as the music, literally pinning you to the ground, making you feel like a large tank is rolling over you back and forth (the ultimate sadomasochistic massage?) Chained to the World mixes those very slow, grinding and heavy numbers with a few more rocking ones that'll practically send you in an headbanging frenzy — only to slam you right back to the ground with another crushing blow (and there's that tank coming again.) A few 70ish Sabbath-esque moments are sure to bring a smile to the old schoolers out there — in fact, musically this is not all that modern overall, the old influences being almost omnipresent and the newer sound is usually kind of buried underneath all of this.

The album is filled with a dark and heavy, sometimes threatening atmosphere that quite poignant at times, and musically this is overall some pretty damn good stuff. The production is a bit thin at times, but nothing bad enough to prevent one from enjoying this. Really it's too bad that they opted to add some crappy vocals to this rather than stick to what fits, as this makes the album a tough listen for anyone who can't tolerate that stuff. Still, Chained to the World is a good collection of raw and heavy songs that's worth checking out if you can stomach the parasitic screamo vocals.

Reviewed by: Michel Renaud

MetalRage
(april 2008)
(81/100)

Here they are again, the Dutch stoners from Heavy Lord. I’ve seen the band a couple of times in the past (not recently though) and I also reviewed their previous album From Cosmos To Chaos, obviously the band is not a stranger to me anymore. Before me lies their latest effort Chained To The World, released through Russia’s Solitude Productions. Let’s see what progress they’ve made.

Well, I must say that this is the first time I’m fully convinced by this band. In the past I’ve had my doubts about the bassist/vocalist who had some problems with the clean(er) vocals, but I hear no problems in that area at all on Chained To The World. Furthermore the production is very much in order, which makes it a great stoner-doom metal record to listen to. The variation between extremely slow and pushing riffs and the more up-tempo parts make sure you don’t lose attention for a minute. Excellently executed fellas!

I honestly don’t have any real negative points to say. This is just the perfect stoner doom for fans of bands like Sleep, Bongzilla, Unearthly Trance, Electric Wizard and such. This one is going right into my personal collection and will pass my playlist many times to come, that’s for sure. Hail the Heavy Lord, hail stoner doom!

Reviewed by: DemonDust

Live4Metal
(april 2008)

It is said by those who are not English, that those who were lucky enough to be born there have a fixation with the weather, well here goes. It is Easter, a time of Spring. So it should be dry roads, a soupcon of sunlight, young ladies in less clothing, etc. And in fact what we have had is snow, sleet, and the heating on at home. Particularly disappointing as I have 1100cc of Kawasaki in the garage which needs its throat wringing. So my demeanour was not the best as I approached my latest reviews. And as if by magic, just to match that mood, we have this CD.
The opener and title track gave me an insight into the experience that this album was to provide, within twenty seconds I had the volume turned up and my head was banging. I then began to analyse the elements, some excellent riffs, good use of changes of key and of tempo, and low, throat-straining vocals. I looked to the counter and saw we were now three minutes in and my head was banging again, this track is five minutes of absolute pleasure. The second track, Serpento, begins with a slower pace but has the same intensity; inducing thoughts of self harm, razor blades and wrists went through my mind, before building up to a crescendo finish. The eleven minute Maelstrom is mainly instrumental with some unclear lyrics; a couple of times I actually checked my watch to check that time had not in fact stopped, but this was too long a track. And after this we have Darius II as a contrast offering, almost thrash pacing and with the vocals higher and clearer than so far experienced, what was once described by a politician as a short, sharp, shock. If the set list is to correspond to the album, then the opening of Looking Into The Makers Eye will provide a chance for a breather as the slow, clear opening accompanies the dry ice / smoke across the venue, then the drummer beginning the revival, the pace picks up and five seconds short of the two-minute mark the whole band are back, getting the head moving backwards and forwards in rapid, jerky movements and these continue when the vocals join in around three minutes forty-five. The riffs continue making this another outstanding track. At the start of Eternal Crawl the bass conducts a fillings test, if yours are not up to it then they will be out of your mouth and in your lap before you can mumble “Pneumatic Drill”, followed by a single note sustain and then the drums, which I will mention here, are great throughout. However, this track is ten and a half minutes, and I found myself answering emails and ordering CDs and had to play it four times before finally getting through to the end, and on this occasion I’m sure I caught my second hand going backwards…..
We finish with Waiting To Die, this is doom and nothing but, pacey from the opening and a good scream early on, at one point there is a sound of falling machinery and I am half expecting to hear the words “I am Iron Man” but no covers here and Heavy Lord contribute their own vocals, good closer.
The fact that this is the third album from this Dutch four-piece raises the expectations, and they match these in all but the too-long areas. Whether this is due to the fact that it was recorded at the Void Studio in Eindhoven, Holland with Pieter Kloos I do not know, but the band want this credit known. It took four days to lay down and is also being issued on a 500 run vinyl edition, so oldies can match some of the style shown with media of the same era.

Reviewed by: Strawb

Vampire Magazine
(march 2008)

Hellevoetsludge: well, that says it all, sludge from a Dutch place on the western isles where Hellevoetsluis is situated. This time Heavy Lord has taken some more time to write and record the material, and that has paid off.

The album starts with the title track, and though it is 100% sludge, it has a feeling as if Pantera has recorded a sludge song, just because the song has the ‘big easy’ feeling, which you can hear so much from bands from the area of New Orleans. What the band has done very well, is to work with some variation elements, such as the almost thrash tempo breaks at the beginning and in the middle in ‘Darius II” and the use of clean vocals as well in ‘Eternal Crawl';, in stead of the just maniacal tortured voice which is so common among the sludge bands from around the world. And let’s not forget about the furious ending track ‘Waiting To Die’, which is sludge combined with havoc.

Combined with that, Heavy Lord also (of course) has lengthy instrumental passages and passages in which the band is almost coming to a standstill, which are almost compulsory when playing sludge. “Chained To The World” has turned into a good, versatile album, but I can’t hear anything actual new to the scene on this album, yet who cares? The album’s production could have been a bit heavier for the sake of impact, yet I think that if you see this band live, it will become an intensive, depressive and heavy experience in the way sludge is meant to be. International dope heads should pay not only attention to our coffee shops, but also to this “Chained To The World” from Heavy Lord...

Reviewed by: Neithan

Antichrist Zine
(february 2008)
(4+/5)

Brand new stuff from these sick guys of Holland! I waiting for this event with interest, ‘coz previous album “From Cosmos To Chaos” was really good stuff. Well, here isn't some style changes since latest album, so we have to listen to same sludge metal, based on doom metal means from time to time. I don't say that with this stuff musicians have achieved some new level in musical creativity, thus we can speak about this stuff as about continuation of “From Cosmos To Chaos”, but like musicians came to “chaos” on this album, he-he. Anybody who don't remember their latest stuff over here? For sure many fans couldn't been able to check it out since various reasons exactly, isn't it? Ok, so here we have 7 pretty good songs on about 50 minutes of “cosmic” sounding. Music is still based on such like pressing pliers guitar riffs, which holding you into it's strong embraces like, and given't breath to you while CD time-playing! As a whole music is consits with catching riffs only, all these riffs are dense and technical ones also, with tons of tempo-changes (the most of all are such evil and driving ones I like to admit!). Also I heard here old-school death metal, he-he, I mean the beginning of latest track “Waiting To Die”. The most of all here are blowing mid-tempo rhythms, but also they are great turning to such sick and slow ones, like in the funeral doom metal we usually hear... Album have one-breath listening charge, so you can't find some boring tunes over here, the only great evil atmosphere, based on both sludge or doom (in less cases) means. In the end I'd like to add also, that HEAVY LORD is a band which will be on high level of sludge metal scene in the near future, ‘coz it's honest attitude to the music and great count of own ideas also. If you are into gloomy metal – don't hesitate to check this CD out!

Reviewed by: Alex Maximov

NineHertz Reviews
(december 2007)

It isn’t often that I find myself looking forward to a band’s longer songs even more than the shorter ones. However, it’s on the epic tracks that Netherlands’ Heavy Lord really drew me in. There’s a tectonic immensity to their riffs and structures on ‘Chained To The World’, their second album, that is best experienced in a more extended context – a sense of vastness that brings their doomy sludge music a step closer to the post-metal realms of Neurosis.

Still, they’re equally good on the shorter songs. ‘Chained To The World’ purveys groovy, chugging and ominous riffs that wouldn’t be out of place in a New Orleans stoner context. On ‘Serpento’, the band takes us deeper into that swamp with dragged-out riffs and tortured vocals, as well as jams (and a B-movie horror aura) that recall Electric Wizard in their single-minded intensity – another recurring reference point on this album. There are also traces of NWOBHM energy and melody mixed in with the more traditional Black Sabbath worship.

But those lugubrious, mesmerizing dirge-jams really get underway with ‘Maelstrom’, a mammoth 10-minute plus track. With a slow, gradually building set-up in which the band intelligently employs simple but effective layering, the song takes its own time to develop, stripping down to a lone bass intoning the main motif before moving into the first verse. There are more than a few shades of Electric Wizard here, but deployed in a manner that is inspired rather than derivative. When the song finally takes off into a speedier passage, it’s the oldest trick in the book (also known as Black Sabbath maneuver A3), but it ends the song on a totally effective note of resolution. ‘Darius II’ carries on in this speedy vein, reminding me a bit of the more manic moments on an Acid Bath record, although this singer is a throat-ripping bile spewer, miles away from Dax Riggs’ more singerly intonations. The song moves through some effective, efficient tempo shifts and rhythmic interplay, and then its over. It’s a so-so aperitif, but the main course is just ahead.

The next two songs are long, trailing epics that push the sound further towards the post-metal territory I alluded to earlier. ‘Looking Into The Maker’s Eyes’ rises from a meditative, anticipatory introduction built around an undistorted motif into a riff that is colossal and majestic, like continental drift sped up for human perception. Again, there’s a tasteful use of simple but cumulatively brilliant fills and guitar layers. Halfway through, there’s a shift into a more uptempo gear, again wonderfully augmented with just-right layers and fills as the pace gets steadily more frenetic, before reprising the mid-tempo menace of the earlier half of the song, ending with a steady drop in tempo, as if the continents were subsiding back to their usual pace. ‘Eternal Crawl’ is simply immense from the get-go, putting out riffs that wouldn’t be out of place on the more epic sections of a Corrosion Of Conformity album, or Soundgarden circa Badmotorfinger, after a concise, quietly menacing bass intro. The song pits some of the mellowest vocals (relatively) vocals on the album against these awesome grooves before threatening to devolve into nothingness via some very portentous, drawn-out chord sequences. Sustain is an wonderful musical assault tool, and Heavy Lord makes the most of it at this point, as immense chords clash against each other with only a rudimentary drum presence as anchor. Gradually, subtle, interesting variations are introduced and the band does what they seem to be best at – taking a really good riff through its paces, with a new twist at every other turn, eventually restoring the status quo of the first section of the song.

‘Waiting To Die’ recapitulates the scope of Heavy Lord’s style, with an initially fast-paced misanthropic squall segueing into soaring sludge, if such a thing is possible.

Heavy Lord is a band that’s able to add a truly immense aspect to their sound without wandering beyond the tools and techniques of their chosen style, and to bring the noise when it’s required as well. However, I’d definitely say that their longer songs are more interesting, with a sense of development and meaningful iteration that makes them feel huge rather than merely long. The shorter material doesn’t always match up, especially ‘Darius II’ and Waiting To Die’, even if that’s partly because of their juxtaposition with such epic tracks. 2007 has been a great year for fans of sludge, doom and stoner music. Even so, I’d say that Heavy Lord have managed to pull off a worthy addition to the already stellar roundup.

Reviewed by: Jayaprakash