Lordi – “Screem Writers Guild”
For those who can't get enough (I salute you)
Just gonna assume that not all of my readers have been keeping up with Lordi. And I don't blame ya.
Not because there's anything wrong with Lordi (I mean, what's not to like??) but because they've just been putting out new material with a frequency that makes '90s Prince look like a lazy sumbitch, following up their 2020 release with two new albums in 2021 and fucking FIVE new albums in 2022.
So if you're diagnosed with too low blood pressure, just try thinking about that for a moment. Got mine up in the red. And personally, I haven't been following along for way longer than that, the last Lordi album I heard being their decent 2008 release "Deadache".
And at this point, I'm not gonna try to justify that. Especially in the light of this, their 18th album. Not because I've necessarily been missing out on a lot of excitingly ground-breaking material – in fact, possibly quite the opposite. But because this is just plain solid. Solid as the very rock from which it's been carved.
Opener "Dead Again Jayne" is pure heavy metal. We're talking kick drum rolls, rapid axe chops, and pinched harmonics. Mr. Lordi's gravelly vocals are as loveably ugly as ever. The counter-rhythmic solo and the many bass alternations are cool as well.
A lot of the features on here are kinda predictable, though. Let's face it: Hard rock and heavy metal do have some decades on them by now. But that doesn't mean there are no interesting elements. For example, several choruses have a downward modulation – one of the many wonderful things to come out of those wonderful 1980s.
There's nothing revolutionizing here, and that's not the point, either. The point here – as has always been the point with Lordi – is to rock the Hell out and give the listeners a brief escape from their colorless everyday drudgery.
And the chorus in "Scarecrow" sounds like that from the title track on Magnum's 1985 masterpiece "On a Storyteller's Night". And that track in all its laid-back '80s rock forms a perfect contrast to the preceding uptempo metal of "Lucyfer Prime Evil" with its dissonant key block hammer strikes.
Several choruses are in a pure major key, which only makes them more powerful. How sweet it is that there's still someone around who gives zero shits about the last 35 years and stays consistently dedicated to gifting the world with music that sounds like that gloriously decadent party of the '80s.
A couple of interesting stand-outs, though. The smoothly acoustic "The Bride" is, at least to the best of my memory, the only downright ballad I've heard from Lordi so far, Mr. Lordi himself even smoothing out his aforementioned gravelly voice for a change. With its slick strings, dobro guitar lead, and sexy cadence, it sounds more like a Journey ballad than anything else.
And then there's the surprising conclusion "End Credits" in which the main man, only accompanied by organ and piano for the first half, gets some touchingly self-aware perspective on his life and career:
"Hearing "God of Thunder" blew my mind
With slasher heros I became entwined
I knew then what and who I want to be
I am a monster, that's my legacy
On the day I finally fade away
Like memories of childhood summer days
And the nights the sun don't set
For all you friends I've ever met
I'll be right here waiting for you"
Say what you want; I fucking felt that.
In short, though, there's still nothing revolutionizing here, and that's not the point, either. The point here – as has always been the point with Lordi – is to rock the Hell out and give the listeners a brief escape from their colorless everyday drudgery. And combining two wonderful cultural means of escapism – horror and '80s hard rock – Lordi once again manage to do exactly that.
Rating: 4.5 out of 6
Genre: Hard rock / heavy metal
Label: Atomic Fire
Release date: 31/03/2023
Producer: Mr. Lordi + Mana + Janne Halmkrona