flyctory.com

Lordi – Killection

Florian Buechting Media Review No Comments

Lordi - Killection

Lordi - Killection
4.2

Rating

 4.2/5

Flyctory.com Pros

  • Fantastic concept, great varierty of sounds
  • Atmospheric SCG tracks
  • Very authentic recordings

Flyctory.com Cons

  • No outstanding song

Athens, Greece, 20th May 2006 – a day that did not only change my life, but the life of a whole nation. Not Germany, where I live in, but the by dear friends from Finland had a national party, which they thereafter only had while and after they beat Sweden in the 2011 Ice Hockey World Cup Final 2011 (quite exactly five years later, by the way). Lordi, a band which has not been taken too seriously, wins the Eurovision Song Contest for their home country. The monsters, who have already been one my absolute favorite bands at that time, are still active – on 31st January 2020, they release their tenth studio album, Killection – A Fictional Compilation Album.

 

Lordi – About The Band

The band is originated from Rovaniemi, Finland, already in 1992, when Mr Lordi first acted as a solo project, also playing all instruments. In the music video to Inferno, you even see Mr Lordi unmasked. During a Kiss fan cruise in 1996, Mr Lordi met Amen (who is still in the band) and G-Stealer. With keyboarder Enary, they recorded the first Lordi band record. G-Stealer left the band, Kita became the first drummer, and Lordi had their breakthrough in 2002, topping the Finnish charts with Would you love a monsterman? In 2003, Lordi toured Germany for the first time, supporting Nightwish. This was the time when I fell in love with the band. While the forst two albums, Get Heavy and The Monsterican Dream, “just” had place 3 and 4 placements in Germany, the 2006 The Arockalypse including Hard Rock Hallelujah topped the Finnish and Swedish charts and made it to the Top 20 in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland and even the US Heat Charts. After winning the ESC, Lordi gave a legendary open air at Helsinki Market Square with some 100,000 spectators. While the following albums still had good receptions by critics and fans, only the 2016 Monstereophonic (Theaterror vs. Demonarchy) and 2018 Sexorcism came back into the charts, especially in Germany and Finland. Killection also introduces a new bass player: Hiisi replaces Ox from this album onwards.

 

Lordi – Killection – Track by Track

Killection consists of 15 tracks, four of them are SCG tracks, which are not songs, but introductory and moderating elements. The playing time is 52 minutes. The album shall represent a fictive album as Lordi would have released it in the 1970s and 1980s.

1. Radio SCG 10

You find the SCG tracks at almost any Lordi album. They are atmospheric, introductory or story-telling moderating tracks. Radio SCG 10 is one of the best of the band history to me. Sounds like a rock radio station, the songs teased are all – very differently recorded – former Lordi tracks.

2. Horror For Hire

The town folks greet you with a smile
So sickly sweet you bring up bile
When life gets boring and plain
You’ll need some sorrow and pain
She’s born of unholy rage
She’s danger ready to raise
Ooh horror for hire

The album starts with typical Lordi sound – powerful metal, lyrics with quite explicit stories and a straight sound which can drive any metal party. Promising!

3. Shake The Baby Silent

Shake The Baby Silent is one out of three tracks which has been released before the album. It was a perfect appetizer to the album – what a great track illustrating the concept of Killection – and still a typical Lordi track with horror-alike, a touch of disgusting lyrics and storytelling. Great one!

4. Like A Bee To The Honey

How much more 1980s could that track be? Like A Bee To The Honey has been written by Paul Stanley, lead singer of KISS, the huge idols of Lordi. The result is a superb travel back in time from 2020, which is very melodic – and even features a saxophone.

5. Apollyon

What’s that? The track starts very melodic and does not feel metal at all. Apollyon is the album’s reference to 1980s rock like Europe or Journey. A definite candidate for the most surprising sound on Killection.

6. SCG10 The Last Hour

Another SCG track, in which people call the radio station, which feels to be infiltrated by dark forces. Not as atmospheric as the first SCG track.

7. Blow My Fuse

Dirty, trashy metal. We are back in the 1970s – Blow My Fuse gives you another great time travel in the rocking music history.

8. I Dug A Hole In The Yard For You

If you do not like the Killection concept, I Dug A Hole In The Yard For You likely gives you the most “classic” Lordi sound. The song was one of the three pre-released tracks. Very catchy.

9. Zombimbo

Zombimbo with its dominant keyboard play is a typical 1980s track. Very tacky, it gave me a smile while listening. But still, very authentic.

10. Up To No Good

Up To No Good turns back the time to the roots of heavy metal. One of the best tracks on the album to me with a lot of party potential.

11. SCG10 Demonic Semitones

Another radio station track. Some callers call the station, one is very panic and asks to stop playing the monster music. Another caller states he has kidnapped the moderator’s mother

12. Cutterfly

It’s in the nature of fire
To burn everything to the ground
But I won’t be found
No I won’t ever retire
Too many deserving to die
They can’t brush aside cutterfly

Another track, which does not sound that Lordi-alike and is by that so good. A 1980s style pop-rock song, which just stays in your head.

13. Evil

Evil – the name already teases it right. After the light pop-alike sounds of Cutterfly, Lordi takes us back to the heavier side of life. Trash-metal sounds. What a nice spread of different styles.

14. Scream Demon

Scream Demon is very melodic, some choral backgrounds, overalll very repetitive. Not the best song on the album, definitely.

15. SCG10 I Am Here

I won’t tell you the end of the story of Killection, but let’s say: it ends Lordi-alike 🙂

 

Lordi – Killection – Spotify

Here is the Spotify Link to the world of Killection:

 

Lordi – Killection – My View

I like the concept of Killection – and Lordi really did an amazing job there. So many different rock sounds, so many decades, styles – and they more or less all done well. The “fictive compilation” thing works much better than I imagined – congrats for that!

On the negative side, which reduces my rating, there are a lot of really good songs, but no top hits. Lordi could have been more powerful at a couple of songs in the studio. Killection is still a good listen and a very good album, the Finnish monsters are always worth a purchase.

 

Lordi – KillecTour 2020

Lordi will have a major European tour quite soon after the album releas. The tour finishes with some shows in Finland:

Su 16.02.2020 Budapest (HU), Barba Negra
Tu 18.02.2020 Bratislava (SK), MMC
Th 20.02.2020 Bergamo (IT), Drusno
Sa 22.02.2020 Klagenfurt (AT), Stereo
Su 23.02.2020 Vienna (AT), Szene
We 26.02.2020 Florence (IT), Viper Theatre
Th 27.02.2020 Istres (FR), L’Usine
Sa 29.02.2020 Madrid (ES), Shoko Madrid
Su 01.03.2020 Barcelona (ES), Razzmatazz
Mo 02.03.2020 Ramonville-St-Agne (FR), Le Bikini
Tu 03.03.2020 Nantes (FR), Warehouse
Th 05.03.2020 Epinal (FR), La Souris Verte
Fr 06.03.2020 Paris (FR), La Machine du Moulin Rouge
Sa 07.03.2020 Sneek (NL), Poppodium Bolwerk
Tu 10.03.2020 Munich, Backstage
Th 12.03.2020 Hamburg, Markthalle
Fr 13.03.2020 Berlin, Kesselhaus
Sa 14.03.2020 Leipzig, Hellraiser
Su 15.03.2020 Stuttgart, LKA Longhorn
We 18.03.2020 Aschaffenburg, Colos-Saal
Th 19.03.2020 Nuremberg, Hirsch
Fr 20.03.2020 Memmingen, Kaminwerk
Sa 21.03.2020 Regensburg, Eventhalle Airport
Su 22.03.2020 Prague (CZ), ROXY
We 25.03.2020 Cologne, Essigfabrik
Th 26.03.2020 Pratteln (CH), Z7
Fr 27.03.2020 Heidelberg, Halle 02
Sa 28.03.2020 Schaffhausen (CH), Kammgarn
Su 29.03.2020 Amstelveen (NL), P60
We 01.04.2020 Vilnius (LT), Pramogy sale VAKARIS
Fr 03.04.2020 Seinajöki (FI), Rytmikorjaamo
Sa 04.04.2020 Kempele (FI), Zemppi Areena Oy
We 08.04.2020 Jyväskylä (FI), Lutakko
Th 09.04.2020 Nivala (FI), Tuiskula Nivala
Fr 10.04.2020 Tampere (FI), Tampereen Tullikamari
Sa 11.04.2020 Helsinki (FI), The Circus
Fr 03.07.2020 Muelheim, Castle Rock Open Air

 

Excuse me, I just have to add this here:

 

Hard Rock & Metal Album Reviews on Flyctory.com

Here are all Media Reviews of the Hard Rock and Metal genres:

 

Finland at Flyctory.com

Here are all postings on Flyctory.com about Finland:

 

Title banner / cover: artist material

, , ,

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *