LORD: Return of the Tyrant

Produced by Lord Tim
Released: October 2010

If there's one band from this country that does epic well, it's LORD. So when they decide to record a sequel to the 2005 Dungeon track "Tarranno del Mar", a long-standing live favourite, they don't just do an EP, they do an enormous EP that's even longer than their last two albums! To be fair, the original intention was to split this into two, but time and budget constraints forbade it, so "Return of the Tyrant" clocks in at a whopping 65 minutes, which ain't bad for a CD with only three new songs on it.


The first of these is the title track, an immense 10-minute saga into which LORD cram almost every trick they've ever pulled and then some: crunchy guitars, catchy riffs, soaring vocals, big melodies, huge solos, cheesy voice acting and finally an epic dose of orchestration that makes this perhaps the biggest sounding song this band has ever recorded. And that's saying a lot. If ever there was one song that could encapsulate a band, "Return of the Tyrant" is the one that represents LORD, and there's another two versions -- a radio edit and an orchestral one -- included just in case one isn't enough. The other pair of newies are covers. Both are relatively faithful to the originals and both show the band taking something of a departure from their usual style. "Of Sins and Shadows" is a Symphony X song and features extended keyboard soloing for the first time on a LORD recording. For such a guitar-oriented band, this is a refreshing change and works so well here, the question has to asked: will there be more in future? Next, they slip into melodic AOR mode for a run through the 80s classic "(I Just) Died in Your Arms Tonight" with vocals handled by bassist Andy Dowling. As always, the covers are done with aplomb and deep respect for the originals and show LORD's versatility.

If those songs are a departure, the rest of the tracks are a complete digression - unplugged versions of tracks from the past two LORD albums as well as of the Dungeon songs "Against the Wind" and "Paradise". For a band that has pretty much stayed completely away from acoustics in the past, you have to question whether they are capable of pulling this off. Metal songs don't always translate well to the unplugged format, and to a degree that's the case here too. "100 Reasons" and "Paradise" misfire, but the others come across well: "Rain" has some great guitar play-off that actually reminded me a little bit of Tommy Emmanuel's Up From Down Under, and "New Horizons" is probably better done this way than in its original form. Considering how heavy it is normally, "Eternal Storm" somehow works too.

Overall this is a pretty valid experiment that really shows the depth of talent LORD has and the risks they are willing to take in the name of their music.

1. Return of the Tyrant
2. Of Sins and Shadows
3. (I Just) Died in Your Arms Tonight
4. Against the Wind
5. Rain
6. 100 Reasons
7. Paradise
8. Eternal Storm
9. New Horizons
10. Return of the Tyrant (orchestral mix)
11. Return of the Tyrant (edit)

Rating: 75%

LORD: Set in Stone

Produced by Lord Tim

Released: August 2009

While often exploring the darker side of human nature, LORD's songs can also be positive and empowering but without going into that cheesy "happy metal" area of their European kin. So it is that they open their latest album in typical style, an uplifting anthem in the shape of "Redemption", pure metal that should get heads nodding from the outset. It's clear right away that "Set in Stone" is a LORD album. It has that distinctive sound, bristling with loud crunchy guitars, booming drums and soaring vocals. Then the band goes into a melodic heavy rock direction in "100 Reasons" with its amazing pop-laced hook. After this is the big epic metal of "Eternal Storm" and the driving title track with its catchy riffing and duelling lead guitars.

By now you get the feeling that LORD is building to something, and so they are. "Someone Else's Dream" is a surging progressive melodic thrash juggernaut with all the band's colours on display including Lord Tim's much-developed harsher vocal style that contrasts starkly with the massive choruses. This song is much like something Soilwork used to do before they stopped being interesting. And LORD continues to keep everyone guessing, with "Forever" deceptively belying its dark subject matter by opening like a typical over-wrought power metal ballad before exploding into guitar violence. The surprises don't stop there, as LORD unleashes a mountain of guests for the ridiculously shred-laden "Be My Guest", with people including Craig Goldy, Glen Drover, Olof Morck from Dragonland, Chris Brooks and members of Harem Scarem, Angra, Argument Soul, Paindivision and Vanishing Point all trying to melt each other's faces off for the sake of heavy metal. Because essentially that's precisely what Set in Stone is: a glorious heavy metal album that doesn't have pretensions of being anything else.

Lord Tim has an amazing knack for pumping out consistently high quality metal, but I've been waiting for him to match the pinnacle that was Dungeon's A Rise to Power for quite a while. With LORD's Set in Stone, he's finally done it.

1. Spectres of the Ascendant
2. Redemption
3. 100 Reasons
4. Eternal Storm
5. Set in Stone
6. Someone Else's Dream
7. Forever
8. Beyond the Light
9. The End of Days
10. Be My Guest
11. New Horizons

Rating: 95%

LORD: Hear No Evil

Produced by Lord Tim

Released: Yesterday

Perhaps keen to appease their horde of fans salvating for the follow-up to last year's awesome Ascendence album, LORD has released this EP that no doubt serves as a teaser to that follow-up, a recording that is set to feature a jaw-dropping guest list (believe me when I say this). While consisting of only five songs, "Hear No Evil" clocks in at over 23 minutes, and fans of pure heavy metal should go nuts for at least 19 ½ of those minutes without any reservations.

The two new tracks here, "Set in Stone" and the title track, are further refinements of LORD's style but with even more lead guitar histrionics, if such a thing is indeed possible. Should these two songs be any indication of what the forthcoming album will be like (and I would be amazed if they did not), then it will be a totally barnstorming one. Both original songs are catchy, rifftastic monsters with vocals that are spot-on and some simply epic soloing, with the Eastern-flavoured section of "Set in Stone" a real stand out that pips it slightly over "Hear No Evil" for best track. Live versions of "Through the Fire" and "Going Down" are also included, a blitzkreig of shredding that virtually segue into each other without a break and obviously recorded on a night when the band was absolutely on fire; they almost sound like they're about to burst into Maiden's "Heaven Can Wait" at one point.

The other track is a cover that the band was at pains to keep secret until the EP was released (and were surprisingly successful). LORD has a knack for unexpected cover songs, inserting bits and pieces of Europe, Bon Jovi and other such artists into their live shows, but by including Kylie Minogue's "On a Night Like This" on here they have utterly surpassed themselves. Even Machinae Supremacy doing Britney Spears is barely eyebrow-raising compared to this. Synth-heavy and featuring some breathy vocals from the gloriously talented Tania Moran, this reminds me of nothing more than Gamma Ray's version of "It's A Sin" and should perhaps be taken as seriously. Considering the mileage Frankenbok once got from their gimmicky cover of "Don't Call Me Baby", this could lead to a considerable level of airplay but it could also leave them open to ridicule to outsiders who just don't get the joke. It's either the smartest or the dumbest thing LORD has done.

"Hear No Evil" will no doubt please both long-time fans hankering for the next full-length album and newer ones who've caught the band live somewhere, but while "On a Night Like This" is undoubtedly a bit of fun, it's guaranteed to leave some people totally mystified.

1. Hear No Evil
2. Set in Stone
3. On a Night Like This
4. Through the Fire (live)
5. Going Down (live)

Rating: 80%

LORD: Ascendence

Produced by Lord Tim

Released: 2007

As LORD currently tours around the east coast with Saxon (review of the Sydney show to follow), it's time to take a look at their album Ascendence. To those who were familiar with Dungeon, it shouldn't take more than half a brain to figure out that the Ascendence of the title is a resurrection from the ashes of that great Australian metal band. LORD is two-thirds of that band's final line-up and as can probably be expected, this is very much a transitional album, featuring a style, a sound and material that fans and followers of Dungeon would find pretty familiar.

The opening intro "Echoes of the Past" helps to lay that past to rest before "Reborn" rises up like the demon on the cover on a firestorm of loud, supercharged guitars. Right away then that typical Dunge... er, LORD sound is stamped all over this: the guitars are HUGE! As always, guitar freaks will be shitting their pants in anticipation of this album and with a couple of masterclass plank wielders in the shape of Chris Brooks and Mark Furtner helping Lord Tim out on a few tracks, you just know that there is going to be some spectacular six-string wrangling going on here.

Fortunately the songwriting is also firmly in place, and that means big, catchy songs with big, memorable singalong choruses. Indeed, LORD's formula here is the same that Dungeon used for all those years. At times, maybe almost too close a copy. For example, the main vocal melody lines from "Same Old Lines" sound, somewhat ironically given the song title, rather like that in "A Rise to Power". The comparisons are too many to list but in the end it doesn't really matter because LORD is really just a new beginning, as tracks like "Reborn" and "Legacy" point out.

"Rain" is the track where things start to get really interesting on Ascendence. Beginning with a nice bass intro this one opens fairly quietly with thunder rolls in the background before going into a nice mid-paced chug with some charming backing vocals from pop singer Tania Moran. Another thunderclap then leads into a solo trade-off between Lord Tim and Brooks that's worth the price of admission alone. Ditto for "Through the Fire" where they both seem to push each other to new limits of fret-burning. "Limb From Limb" is a fast, heavy and aggressive track that recalls the A Rise to Power track "Traumatised" but with a more believable effort on the shrieking vocals. The next track, "220" is merely an unashamed shredfest with Tim and Furtner apparently trying to melt each other's faces off. That gives way to the album's epic, "Legacy". Moran's vocals chime in again during the choruses here and it's a bit of a shame that the production doesn't really bring them out a bit more often.

No album these days is really complete without a bonus track, and on this it's a version of Pantera's "Shattered" with a slightly updated guitar mix from the one that appeared on 2006's The Art of Shredding tribute album. This tidies everything up very nicely with a good, faithful acknowledgement of a prime influence.

In the end, Ascendence delivers everything expected of it, certainly no less and probably not really much more. In that regard, LORD could be criticised for taking zero risks with this album. If there is that feeling of safeness about it though, it can be excused for the moment as the band lays to rest the last vestiges of its past while laying a pretty decent foundation for the future.

1. Echoes of the Past
2. Reborn
3. Going Down
4. Same Old Lines
5. Rain
6. My Own Way
7. Through the Fire
8. The Calm
9. Limb From Limb
10. 220
11. Legacy
12. Shattered

Rating: 86%