Hailing from Finland,
Lordi consist of five persons dressed up in full monster costumes á la Gwar, playing their own brand of
Kiss styled Hard Rock. The Monster Show, being their third album, is a cross between the first two, with no new songs on it, which to me seems pretty pointless, especially since the band says on their homepage, that they have already written around 20 new songs for the next release..!
The Monster Show is an attempt at a full-blown party record, but a string of uninteresting songs stand in the way from reaching the goal completely. Nevertheless, the record has many great moments, with super catchy, simple and energetic Hard Rock to offer, a reminder that Rock is supposed to be fun and entertaining!
The returning use of dancebeats in several songs seems a failed attempt to sound more modern or create an innovative edge, and is a minor turn-off for me personally. In one song it works though, and that is Blood Red Sandman, one of the best songs. Here the samplers actually enhance the overall experience and make the song more complete. Otherwise, I thin it sounds pretty out of place.
Already from the first spin of
Bring It On it is very evident that
Lordi are inspired by
Kiss, the structure and chorus, in fact even the atmosphere of the song is very like the old heroes, as well as has traces from acts like
Twisted Sister and
Alice Cooper. Still, the band manages to create an own sound, with the use of elements like the horror movie like keyboard.
Blood Red Sandman is a cool Party song, also with a very catchy chorus and a great drive.
Another Smash hit comes up with
My Heaven Is Your Hell, which the band also released on single. A very melodic and happy sounding rocker!
Lordi had a hit with
Would You Love A Monsterman already the first time it was released, and while I really don't see the point of releasing the song again, it is totally evident why it became such an anthem for the band in the first place! It really is overly catchy, and the tight 70es like rhythm really rocks! This is one of the songs, where both verse and chorus works great and make for a killer song!
The simple, entertaining sing-a-long tune
Devil Is A Loser reminds me a lot of
Kiss and is once again very easy to get into, also a very nice track.
At this point it seems like the best part of the record is over, there's no surprises left and only a few great tunes to look forward to.
With
Icon Of Dominance,
Children Of The Night and
Shotgun Divorce we get to a row of pretty boring, softer songs, which would have worked a lot better if placed among the other tracks. The first mentioned is clearly the best of the three, the other two kind of take the drive out of the record, and I feel that
Lordi should rather have continued to spread party mood, because that's what they do best. The softer songs, probably supposed to be more deep felt, or give the record a second dimension, simply doesn't work!
Forsaken Fashion Dolls speeds things up a little, but this time the hook lines are not strong enough and
Lordi surpass the thin line between childish charm and straight out foolishness they so masterfully balance on all the time.
With the heavy old-school tune
Rock The Hell Outa You,
Lordi ends the album in a great, groovy way!
Lordi is a band able to write catchy-as-hell choruses, a very strong force, and you can say it as simple as if the chorus doesn't work, the song doesn't work.
Of course the outrageous image of
Lordi is a fun gimmick, but after seeing them live a few years ago, and watching their videos, I will say, that it takes more than well designed costumes to uphold a horror like image. Live as well as in videos,
Lordi don't seem scary or outrageous, they don't really move around, and the "strong monster violence and gore" which is promised on their homepage, wasn't delivered (in one of the videos,
Lordi sings to a 7 year old girl, who doesn't even seem scared?). If people decide to go for an image like this, they must create something that makes you go: "wow! That's wild!". Look at
WASP or
Gwar.
But still the music should be what counts, and if they work a little more on creating more solid verses and a bit of better structuring, the future would look bright, with or without the costumes!
Written by
Nina Friday, March 4, 2005
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