LORDI – Lordiversity: The Masterbeast From The Moon [late ’70s Pomp / Prog] (2021)

LORDI will release no fewer than seven new studio albums in 2021. And frontman Mr. Lordi admits that he was had originally hoped to release 10 new albums, only to have that idea vetoed by the Finnish group’s record label.
Titled ‘Lordiversity‘, the box set will be available as seven CDs, or seven vinyl records. Each album will see the former Eurovision-winning Finns tackle a different genre: hard rock, disco, progressive rock, heavy metal, AOR, thrash/speed and industrial metal.
The albums will be standalone available, and here’s “The Masterbeast From The Moon“, plunging into the bombastic and elaborated world of late ’70s pomp rock / prog rock, with shades of everything from KANSAS, RUSH and STYX through to MAGNUM and SAGA, hence the songs are more complex with varying time signatures and keyboards being front and center to create that progressive sound.

Everything is a size bigger, everything a little longer and more lyrical. We are in 1979, blues rock and proto-metal has done its job for a long time, the disco wave is slowly ebbing away, and for the serious rock bands there are hardly any limits in terms of presentation, arrangements and tours.
YES and STYX are there, RUSH have reached their zenith in terms of long, expansive compositions, EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER are still in your mind.
Lordi try to capture the zeitgeist with their opulent “The Masterbeast From The Moon”.

The story starts with a radio transmission from somewhere in the universe, titled “SCG Minus 5”. We are under attack by the Masterbeast from the Moon. The story is about to begin – in very typical Lordi style.
Then ‘Moonbeast’ has a touch of a movie soundtrack, harpsichord sound and simply a thrilling atmosphere: Lordi tell the beginning of the story in the epic Moonbeast track initially without using any vocals – the first time you hear Mr. Lordi is after some 2:15 minutes.
A rare moment of respite, the elegant and hazy “Hurricane Of The Slain” absolutely reeks of devotion to ALICE COOPER’s “From the Inside”: an interesting turn of events.

When you think of “Soliloquy” you inevitably think of “2112” by RUSH. “Bells Of The Netherworld” with its concise synthesizer arpeggios starts out similarly obviously influenced, although the song later ends in a typical sing-along rocker that we know and appreciate from Lordi.
The focus of the album is certainly the twelve-minute “Church Of Succubus”, which combines all the prog and pomp elements, from grandiose choruses to big synths and guitar solos.

On ”The Masterbeast From The Moon” LORDI are doing well as a progressive rock band of the late Seventies (and also the early Eighties). It isn’t Lordi main style but they know all the tricks from the genre, and while all is professionally executed, they didn’t take things too seriously and add a ‘James Bond’ touch on “Celestial Serpents”, as example.
Highly Recommended

01 – SCG Minus 5: Transmission Request
02 – Moonbeast
03 – Celestial Serpents
04 – Hurricane Of The Slain
05 – Bells Of The Netherworld
06 – Transmission Reply
07 – Church Of Succubus
08 – Soliloquy
09 – Robots Alive!
10 – Yoh-Haee-Von
11 – Transmission On Repeat

Mr. Lordi – Vocals
Amen – Guitars
Mana – Drums
Hella – Keyboards
Hiisi – Bass

Pre order:
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