| Product: |
The Monster Show - Lordi |
| Date: |
22.10.06 (386 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Some great 1980s style stadium rock
Disadvantages: The vocals aren't always in keeping with the music
Hallowe’en. A night for witches and demons and, why not monsters? The monsters that are Lordi certainly seem to think that Hallowe’en is the perfect night for their monster show, as that’s when they hit London for the first time, at the Kentish Town Forum.
Having recently come to the attention of the whole of Europe with their victory in 2006’s Eurovision Song Contest, Lordi have taken the best tracks from their first two albums; their 2003 debut “Get Heavy” and 2005’s “The Monsterican Dream” and combined them in “The Monster Show”, in an attempt to turn Europe onto Lordi as a serious metal band, not just as Eurovision winners. It seems strange to me that a band no-one outside their native Finland had heard of 12 months ago has what is effectively a greatest hits album out already, but having enjoyed their Eurovision winning entry, I was keen to give them a shot.
The opening “Theatrical Trailer” is more or less a skit; nothing more than a horror movie style introduction to the album and the song to follow it, as it did on “The Monsterican Dream”. There is a reference back to the opening skit from “Get Heavy”, but knowing that doesn’t really add anything to what is really a pointless skit. Fortunately, it does only last for about a minute.
The album opens properly “Bring It On” and a riff I’m sure I’ve heard on a Def Leppard track previously, which isn’t what you’d expect from a bunch of Slipknot look-alikes. Looking at Lordi, you’d be inclined to expect something more death metal, but they’re a very melodic metal group, in the great 80s stadium rock traditions. There’s a heavy driving beat to this one, with the singer’s gruff voice making it sound a little like James Hetfield of Metallica at some points, although the music is a little less heavy than that.
“Blood Red Sandman” opens with a music box intro, before blasting into another up tempo heavy rock track. The influence in the vocals this time is perhaps a little more Iron Maiden, with the driving guitar riff and even the sing-along stadium rock chorus isn’t entirely unlike them, although it is a little lighter than they would usually produce.
All the tracks so far are as they appear on “The Monsterican Dream” and “My Heaven is Your Hell” is the fourth track on that album as it is here. This one is a little lighter and the vocals and the guitar riff are edging towards rock-pop territory, with influences that I’m sure I’ve heard on some of Def Leppard’s heavier songs. Strangely, seeing as how I’m a far bigger fan of Def Leppard than I ever have been of “Iron Maiden”, I do prefer the previous track of the four so far.
Lordi go all out for the stadium rock crowd, with the sing along intro to “Would You Love a Monsterman”, although the strangely out of place shouts of “fire at will” over the intro and a synthesiser riff in parts that sounds quite close to the “Knight Rider” theme tune do detract attention from how good this track actually is. It’s another all out up-tempo rock track, with the vocals sounding even more like Iron Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson than ever, although again the general tone of the song is more soft rock friendly than Maiden have tended to be over the years. It’s almost as if this is what you’d get if Bruce Dickinson was fronting Bon Jovi. Of course, being a huge stadium rock fan, this is so my cup of tea and I love it.
Completely at odds with usual metal attitudes comes “The Devil is a Loser”, the other single release from “Get Heavy” after “Would You Love a Monsterman”. There’s a guitar riff that sounds like a speeded up version of Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” holding it all together, although the overall feel of the song is more towards the Alice Cooper end of the rock spectrum, at the heavier edge of stadium rock, although there are some quite pop influenced backing vocals. Again, though, this is entirely my kind of music, so I’m already tempted to given “Get Heavy” a look.
There’s a very soft rock feel to the intro to “Icon of Dominance” with a piano that could have been borrowed from Evanescence, if the surrounding guitar wasn’t a lot heavier than they’re used to. An almost whispered vocal in the early verses reminds me of Linkin Park, but the whole sound is very soft rock and stadium friendly, if a little down tempo from the earlier tracks. It’s not quite a ballad, but it is a shade more relaxed than the all out rockers that have preceded it.
“The Children of the Night” is the album’s first real attempt at a ballad, with a piano intro and a low slow delivery that reminds me a little of Alice Cooper’s “Might As Well Be On Mars”, before it expands into a heavy stadium rock style ballad. It’s not a bad effort, but definitely one of the weaker tracks on the album.
There’s a synthesiser intro to “Shotgun Divorce” that sounds like a heavier version of something Europe or the J. Geils Band were using back in the 1980s. The driving yet still melodic guitar riff does give this a Whitesnake kind of sound, but it sounds like the vocals are trying too hard to sound gruff and more rock like, which does take the edge off the song a little.
There’s another very melodic metal track for the next one with “Forsaken Fashion Dolls”, again giving the track a very rock-pop stadium rock feel. There’s perhaps a slight nod towards Alice Cooper in some parts, although the vocals again seem a little too strained for that.
“Wake the Snake” sounds like a Motley Crue song title, and this is indeed perhaps the most glam rock influenced song, although it sounds more like Whitesnake than anyone else in terms of the musical influence, with a touch of Alice Cooper on the vocals. Another decent enough stadium rock song, but not the band’s best.
The last song I heard called “Rock the Hell Outta You” was by Christian soft rock band Stryper, but this is certainly not a cover version and is perhaps true to the more metal version of the phrase. There is a nice rock guitar riff running through this one, although the chorus is perhaps a little too stadium rock to really fit with the dark riff. The vocals again sound a little like Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson, but the song has more of a Kiss influence than anything else, particularly where the chorus is concerned.
The bonus DVD available with this album runs for about 15 minutes in total and covers three videos for songs on this album; “Blood Red Sandman”, “The Devil is a Loser” and “Would You Love a Monsterman”. The videos aren’t really anything too special, consisting mostly of a reason to have the band playing their song, in true metal style. Appropriately enough, “The Devil is a Loser” is set around a Hallowe’en party that the band take control of. These videos aren’t really worth watching more than once, given the generally formulaic nature of them, but the haunted house meets “Blair Witch Project” style for the “Blood Red Sandman” video, as well as the slightly unexpected ending makes that one worth a look. Unfortunately, there’s no “Play All” option, so if you do want to see all the videos, you have to select them one after the other. There’s also the matter of “My Heaven is Your Hell”, which was the other single released from the two albums covered here, which appears to be missing for the video collection, for some reason.
What you have with “The Monster Show” as a whole is 43 minutes worth of pretty decent stadium metal. The quality is a little up and down and the vocals do seem to be trying a bit too hard to be gruff and metal-esque at some points, when maybe a smoother sound would have made for a better stadium rock influenced sound.
It is immediately clear which one of Lordi’s albums were better, as despite the track listing favouring songs from “The Monsterican Dream” by 8 to 4, it is the ones from “Get Heavy” which became instant favourites. What you get here is really nothing new, whether you’re already a Lordi fan or not. Much like I am, Lordi are clearly influenced in terms of their sound by many of the great 1980s stadium rock acts, with Iron Maiden, Alice Cooper and Metallica perhaps being the more obvious ones.
If you’re looking for a ground breaking new rock or metal act, you won’t find them in Lordi. However, if you’re an existing fan of the slightly heavier kind of 1980s stadium rock, then you’ll have a friend in this album. You won’t find anything new on it, but you could well find an album that will stand up there with some of your favourites from that era. At prices from £4.54 at the Amazon Marketplace and from £4.99 on eBay, if this is your kind of thing, as it certainly is mine, you can’t go too far wrong. Given that this kind of music isn’t being produced all that much any more, it’s good to find a previously unknown band keeping the stadium rock traditions alive and doing it well.
Summary: Lordi combine their first two albums for a UK release.
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