Mr. Lordi and his monster crew are preparing for their third strike against mankind and they continue their established concept to connect good 80ies Rock with a unique image. There’s no doubt about it, that LORDI wouldn’t have sparked that much media interest without their costumes and their general appearance, but also the music itself sounds absolutely convincing.
Just like on the forerunners Get Heavy (2002) and The Monsterican Dream (2004) LORDI combine handy, effective and partially simple riffs with memorable vocal lines, much melody and background keyboards. That’s not world-shaking, but it provides great entertainment and is suitable for excessive parties as well as for cruising down the roads or to listen to it by the way.
Of course not every track is a clacker, but compared to The Monsterican Dream you can recognize an increasing number of hits. Already the opening trio The Deadite Girls Gone Wild, The Kids Who Wanna Play With The Dead and It Snows In Hell prove clearly, that LORDI never sounded that sophisticated and self-controlled than on this recording.
The prominent guest musicians seem to have been of the same opinion. While Dee Snider (Twisted Sister) takes on the monster voice in the inventive intro, ex-KISS guitarist Bruce Kullick ennobles the song It Snows In Hell with his leadguitar-arts and Udo Dirkschneider’s voice (Accept) really grades up the track They Only Come Out At Night.
It should be clear, that the band wouldn’t be content with an average production. Although the celebrated style of music nearly is screaming for a dusty 80ies production, the material was wrapped in an absolutely modern sound, which affects a bit polished, but provides enough pressure.
I think, after three albums with exactly the same style, we can expect some changes on the next long-player, if LORDI want to escape stagnation, but until then we have enough time to rejoice in The Arockalypse.