Style: shock rock, heavy metal, experimental
Label: BMG
Year: 2002
Home: Finland
Members: Mr. Lordi ~ lead vocals
Amen ~ guitar/b. vocals
Kalma ~ bass/b. vocals
Enard ~ keyboards/b. vocals
Kita ~ drums/b. vocals
I discovered Lordi while on a trip to Finland in 2003 when they were at a peak, though before they'd hit Europe or ever won Eurovision or even toured the U.S., which I of course went to see. I like to collect rock music when I travel to foreign countries & even though a new CD is expensive in Finland I couldn't resist buying this one after having seen the life-size cardboard cutouts in the music store window. I knew this was going to be something I'd like. No regrets. Years later I still love putting on this debut release. Everything about it is cool, particularly the cartoon cover art of the band & the inside photos of the band in full monster costume ... it's against band rules to be photographed out of make-up, which recently brought the dismissal of long-time drummer Kita. Though, with ten members now in their history I wonder what other band rules there are. This is GWAR, Alice Cooper, Twisted Sister & obviously Kiss taken to a new level by Mr. Lordi (aka Tomi Putaansuu) who was a big fan of Kiss after seeing their show & was inspired to form his own band. But, then, who hasn't after seeing any of the mentioned bands? It's pure shock rock but not just on the visuals but also musically. It's brash & loud heavy metal, far more furious than any of their inspirations with catchy riff after catchy riff, let alone the lyrics cull more from the monster themes of Alice Cooper than the unthematic power ballads of Kiss. Albeit, shock rock is about the image, theme & headbanging energy. Though you may be able to sing along with Lordi's shouts the lyrics make less since than Marilyn Manson, albeit he hides behind the idea that's there's a philosophy behind the mishmash. So, if you want pure heavy metal mayhem Lordi makes a great party album. Though, I will say the album starts off incredibly strong hitting a bump with the sixth track "Icon Of Dominance" that opens with an instrumental power ballad to be keyboard bit that's a change from the assault of rhythms that came before it. The problem is that power ballads go well with coherent lyrics which is not Lordi's strong point. But, he's following the 80's tradition of always having a power ballad on the album, though power ballad a la H.I.M. Sadly, the songs that come after aren't as memorable as the first half of the album. It reminds me a lot of the Metallica black album that has a great opening side but lots of filler on the end. The other problem with Lordi is that though this is a great release monsters themes only go so far so a few albums later the gimmick is a bit stale, though they do make some great MTV videos to keep things exciting & even starred in a movie as the main monster. But, if you are at all a fan of shock rock & have missed Lordi you've missed an important ingredient in the shocking timeline. This is the album to do your homework with.
No comments:
Post a Comment