Undiluted by originality,
Lordi's fourth release roars through the greasepaint with another well crafted collection of eminently tuneful cartoon metal.
Winning the Eurovision Song Contest for Finland with a record number of points in 2006 seems to have been no credibility killer.
We all know it's just for fun, right?
Those who salivate freely at the thought of heavy metal driven by pounding, melodic rock rifferama, laced with colourful pop tunes will find plenty to drool over here.
Thunderstone's increasingly sought after guitarist, Nino Laurenne handles production duties with his usual mix of broadbrush strokes and obsessive's attention to fine textural detail.
'Man Skin Boots' and
'Bite It Like A Bulldog' are fuelled by huge, heavy metal guitar gestures and a solid, heavily rhythmic percussive thump.
That said, Laurenne consistently shows restraint where it would be easy to gallop over the top.
Lordi's garish lyrics and gothic vocal mannerisms encourage that kind of approach, but anything other than a relatively conservative attitude at the mixing desk would've seen it all go down in a blaze of glory.
Some of these big boned songs are so well fleshed out with meaty choruses and sharp edged hooks that you would think Laurenne had a hand in the songwriting too -
'Girls Go Chopping' and
'Deadache' are standouts. But no, all are penned by the band in general and
Lordi in particular.
Especially impressive are the structurally complex,
'Dr.Sin Is In', the heavily harmonised
'The Ghosts Of The Heceta Head' and the post Gothic '
Evilyn'. All provide the visceral thrills you expect from the genre, but equally you begin realising that this band needn't hide behind the cartoon pop metal image any longer. The music stands up on its own.
Still, what do I know?
13 tracks, and as the cliché would have it, plenty of fire and brimstone, but not a whiff of filler.
Written by
Brian Tuesday, February 17, 2009
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