The Lords (demogroup)

The Lords was a Dutch ZX Spectrum group from Roosendaal known as one of the earliest dedicated demogroups.[1] The Lords released several demos for the ZX Spectrum home computer between the years 1986 and 1990.[2] Groups such as The Lords are regarded as early pioneers of what came to be known as the demoscene. They were especially noted for their sound-chip skills.[3]

Screenshot from Tetris for the SAM Coupé

Screenshot from Bats 'n Balls for the SAM Coupé

In some respects they mirrored The Judges, a "rivaling" Commodore 64 group also from Roosendaal, to the extent that concepts, artwork and even titles were identical between the two groups.

Their demo Quinquagesima was given a review of 78% in the September 1992 issue of Your Sinclair[3] - three years after it was released in 1989. Some of their productions was put as covermounts, for instance The Apple Movie on Outlet issue 107[4] and Quinquagesima on Outlet issue 070.[5]

In later years, they released some of their demos for the SAM Coupé and two games: a freeware version of Tetris in 1990[6] (also published as a covermount on Fred issue 3) and an Arkanoid clone named Batz 'n Balls[7] in 1992, both to very good reviews.[8][9]

In 1994 two of the members, Lord Insanity and Scrunk, did a series of articles about demos for the paper-based magazine ZAT.[1]