The album was released in June 1970 by Vertigo Records in the UK. The original vinyl release was a gatefoldsleeve, featuring frontman David Byron on the front sleeve, almost unrecognisable beneath cobwebs.
It was issued in August 1970 by Mercury Records in the United States as just Uriah Heep with different sleeve artwork (a centipede type monster), and with the track "Bird of Prey" in place of "Lucy Blues". The album was reissued by Bronze Records in 1971 after the band signed to that label.[7]
The album shows the band trying out various genres – a mix of heavy metal and progressive rock – rather than the hard rock that they would become known for on later albums.[5] Tracks 3 and 8 were recorded as Spice songs prior to the band's renaming as Uriah Heep, and featured session player Colin Wood on keyboards.[8] When Ken Hensley joined Spice in early 1970, the tracks were not re-recorded.
The album was generally panned by the mainstream critical press upon its release, although it has since been acknowledged as an early classic of the heavy metal genre.[6] Canadian music critic Martin Popoff classifies the album as "proto-heavy metal".[9]Rolling Stone magazine's Melissa Mills began her review by saying, "If this group makes it I'll have to commit suicide. From the first note you know you don't want to hear any more."[10]
^ abDonald A. Guarisco. "Very 'Eavy... Very 'Umble - Uriah Heep". AllMusic. Retrieved 15 August 2022. Very 'Eavy... Very 'Umble finds the band trying on different stylistic hats as they work towards finding their own sound. At this juncture, their music falls halfway between the crunch of heavy metal and the dramatic arrangements of prog rock.
^Pennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin – levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. p. 166. ISBN978-951-1-21053-5.
