Heavy Lord - From Cosmos To Chaos (CD)

Review
Burningblack

This is the second release and first full length of this Dutch Sludge/Doom Metal band formed back in 2002. Following the well-received “Holy Grail” demo 2004, this testament of brutality and heaviness comes. The music of Heavy Lord is very influenced by the whole nineties Stoner/Doom Metal phenomenon, that is to say, bands like Electric Wizard, Sleep, St. Vitus and Cathedral seems to be a huge influence on them, but we can’t talk about Doom Metal without the deserved reference to the mighty Black Sabbath… this case, isn’t the exception. The album starts with “Elephaunt”, the longest track of this album, with 11 minutes 15 seconds of Stoner groove, mid to crawling-slow sabbatical riffs, Sleep-like dope smelling atmospheres and an amazing vocal work, ranging from raspy Hard Rocking tones, low deep clean tones to deathly low grunts. Then “Scorpion Sting” comes with the most rocking piece of this album, the low tuned riffing drives the whole song with mid paced structures and catchy bass guitar lines, the vocal delivers the mentioned raspy, powerful vocals, this time mixed with insane screams, adding an interesting twisted aura (ala Burning Witch). The slow apocalypse continues with “The Ego Has Landed” a great eight minutes piece of sludgy Doom Metal, the Rock structures and guitar lines are mixed here, with the rawness of Doom Metal resulting in an accurate musical hybrid. “One In A Billion” continues with a thick piece of Heavy Doom Metal, with a predominantly inhuman vocal work that ranges from blackish shrieks, dead growls to semi grunted voices. The suffocating atmospheres of this song are only comparable with the most extreme Funeral Doom. The burial paced riffing only expands the claustrophobic sound. Closing this album is “While Empires Burns”, at this track the vocals are, once again an indisputable highlight, with a clean deep Mike Patton like vocals mixed with desperate screams. This is the obscurest track of this album, the sorrowful auras are complemented by the funeral paced guitars and the cadent drumming, while the bass add a huge profundity to the whole song… “From Cosmos To Chaos” is an impressive debut and highly recommended work, especially if you are into the most dense, crawling and muddy side of extreme music. (AP)

Review
Tartarean Desire
5.5/10

Some people think I always start my reviews telling the style and the country of origin of the band reviewed. Well, to satisfy those self righteous souls, I´ll do my best and I won´t start these lines telling Heavy Lord is a stoner band from the Netherlands. Enough! Or too much? Nothing really impressive perceived through the listening of the 1´s and 0´s contained in this CD, except for some loose groovy guitar riffs here and there, pretty scarce for the taste of a demanding listener as I am. If I got into the body and soul of an average music fan I wouldn´t dislike “From Cosmos To Chaos” at all. Technically speaking and analysing the songmaking, this band is mostly correct. Heavy Lord alternate classic distorted riffs with other hazy dark parts to provide a certain prog feeling or something similar. The main lacks are: the low originality (something usual nowadays... perhaps the guys hadn´t creativeness as a goal...) and the boredom derived from some passages. Some songs are quite long and that fact stresses that dull element. To begin a stoner album with a 11 minutes piece is brave and dangerous, to say the least. It´s hard to be epic and succeed at the same time, and stoner doom is not an easy way to achieve it... As far as vocals are concerned, when they´re supposed to reach intensity matching crescendos of the music, the results are not convincing at all. Other tones used by singer Steve also fail to fit well in the music. Obviously vocals need more work... An average band still trying to find their own way into the scene.

Author: Fjordi