The monsters of Finland Lordi, still know how to Rock out.
Lordi have been around for ages, but it wasn’t until one night back in 2006 when I finally discovered them. I was in my room probably playing WoW when my father came in and turned on my TV to the Eurovision Song Contest saying there was something I might like; it was Lordi’s ‘Hard Rock Hallelujah’ it was love at first sight.
To me they were an interesting combination of Kiss’s flair and playing style, Alice Cooper type stage shows and early Rob Zombie’s macabre themes, what’s not to love? After winning Eurovision with a record breaking 292 points, Lordi’s stock went through the roof and they toured extensively.
Sadly, over the years they’ve slowly faded away from the spotlight of the general public since their 15 minutes of Eurovision fame was over, to the point that I only stumbled upon Monstereophonic (Theaterror vs Demonarchy), their 8th studio album the other day, through pure chance.
While every record is different, with Monstereophonic (Theaterror vs Demonarchy) Lordi truly went above and beyond here creating a split album. The first 6 tracks are pretty much standard Lordi, mainly 80’s style Rock but with a good mix of Heavy Metal.
With the rise of popularity of Skeletor on the internet, I’m not surprised just after the opening segment is ‘Let’s Go Slaughter He-Man (I Wanna Be Beast-Man in the Masters of the Universe)', it starts with Hella’s keyboard before the rest of the band and Mr Lordi join the fray and since I used to watch He-Man the lyrics are a treat. Lead single ‘Hug you Hardcore’ reminds me of Rob Zombie during the Sinister Urge days, rock leaning on the industrial metal side of things, heavy on the drumming and repetitive metal riffs, Fuckin’ love it. But the real eye opener here is ‘Mary is Dead’ sung from the point of view of a killer, that talks about how more or less he's laughing while helping the townspeople try to find his latest victim, Mary.
While the second half is more progressive, feels like a modern Metal record and is conceptual, very ambitious. ‘Demonarchy’ opens the account here and what an awesome way to do it too, the riffs are faster and the beats are harder, setting the tone for the rest of the B-side of the album, you know you’re going to be in for a ride.
‘The Unholy Gathering’ is a nice touch and slowed down, but still packs quite a punch. You all know I love a great start to an album, well I feel the same way about closers and ‘The Night the Monsters Died’ has to be one of the better tracks I’ve heard, it ends the story of the demonic creatures that the second half of Monstereophonic is all about perfectly and winds along really well.
It’s a good thing I listen to the albums I cover for at least a week, if anyone had asked me what I thought last Monday or Tuesday, it would have come off quite negative, I don’t expect you to love Monstereophonic (Theaterror vs Demonarchy) straight away. But if you give it enough time you’ll come to enjoy Lordi’s 80’s inspired Rock before being hit by the experimental modern style Metal of the second half.
Below is the Lead Single 'Hug You Hardcore' but I must advise viewer discretion, it is a bit of a full on video. You have been warned.
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