Ελληνικά
Genre: Shock Rock/Heavy Metal
Country: Finland
Label: Atomic Fire Records
Year: 2023
2023 Α.D. It’s only been ten years since the Finnish monsters began to find their way again from a series of unfortunate events that plagued them during 2008-2012. Those included, a huge burnout after the success and constant touring of 2006, the commercial failure of “Deadache” in relation to “The Arockalypse” which had elevated them as the next big thing worldwide and created expectations for both them and the fans, two members departing and finally, the death by Tonmi “Otus” Lillman in early 2012. From 2013 and onwards, however, the streak began to change. The lineup is solidified for the next seven years, the band is signed to AFM Records and everything is ticking along with records coming out every 2 years, tours of select European cities following up, an American and Canadian tour somewhere in 2017, and a plethora of summer festival appearances. And yet, there are still people who suggestively wonder, “oh well, are Lordi still a thing?”
Lordi in the year 2023, have just signed with Germany’s Atomic Fire Records, have a new guitarist who brings a fresh air to the band (due to the excitement that comes with a young age of a musician on the road) have completed their very successful – and now established – European run for “Lordiversity”, a set of seven new studio records released in 2021 and they are going full speed ahead for their new era, with the “Screem Writers Guild”. This record within the first listening session can bring the “old school” fans of the band, of the “first four albums”, to tears. The horror element is intense (due to the theme of the record with references to the cinematic Universal Monsters), the production is top notch, the compositions pompous, enriched with extreme riffs and many, many keys, absolutely correctly placed and also, with many surprises. In particular, we can hear Mr. Lordi singing with clean vocals the ballad “The Bride”, and continues the streak of tears for all of us young monsters, with “End Credits”, the outro of the record, which makes a soulful statement coming out of his heart. You raised us, you motherfucker. I wouldn’t say that the record has fillers, maybe because of prejudice and eternal love and devotion to the band, maybe this time the band’s vibe is really different. Their strong point is the choruses, and there are plenty of them.
In general, Lordi’s sound has taken many directions during the recent years. From melodic shock rock in the band’s first decade, there follows an experimentation with a more melodic and modern spectrum of heavy metal during the period 2013-2020, culminating of course with “Lordiversity”, which includes seven different records, in seven different genres of music among them. Disco, thrash metal, glam, hard rock, heavy metal, industrial and prog. They can do it all and they can do it good. But “Screem Writers Guild” will be especially loved by the Lordi Army, because it contains a healthy balance of all these together. It has the oldschool vibe of “Arockalypse”, the horror element of “Deadache” and “Monsterican Dream”, the disco passages we loved in “Superflytrap”, combined with Kone’s shredding and Hella’s unimaginable keys, automatically elevates it to the album of the year for me.
