Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
“No one can long hide behind a mask; the pretense (sic) soon lapses into the true character“, so observed Seneca The Younger, and it is pretence that we often seek the answers to the surreal and perplexing question of What If?
There are many scenarios to such a question, but for Finnish Metal Kings Lordi, the question has become posed in Time, the “What if” of a lost album, the sudden release, unexpected, unknown collection of songs that hark back to a period in which Glam Rock and the vibe of the 70s insight reigned supreme, it is to that supposed lost recording that Killection follows the path laid out by imagination and by the fortitude of expression.
The surprise winners of Eurovision in 2006 cannot be accused of doing anything by half, to even suggest such a motion would be a terrible slur. Killection is beautifully overblown, wrapped up in a conceit that is terrifically played out as fact, and one to which the illusion of a different reality is given a greater dynamic. Imagination is the greatest gift, and in the hands of the executioner it is once to feel being utilised with its greatest blade. For Lordi this akin to being asked once more to stomp on the so-called sacred cow of Eurovision; such fertile ground in which to display the story in full colour.
The sense of music continuation surrounds songs such as Horror For Hire, Like A Bee To The Honey, Blow My Fuse, I Dug A Hole In The Yard For You, Evil and Scream Demon, all of which play out in real time as if being presented by a shock jock, the radio talk show host who goads the listener into the argument; the collection of words is given airtime and the evil between the songs is let loose.
A marvellous decoy of appreciation, of Rock and Roll subterfuge, but with the pleasure of others squirm in its wake, such is the power of imagination that it can answer the question of What If? with a credible and pulsating answer. Lordi’s Killection is a gathering of wits and an assembly of brilliance.
Lordi’s Killection is released on January 31st 2020 on AFM Records.
Ian D. Hall