House
of Lords made a grandiose comeback
in 2006 with "World
Upside Down" (as far am I concerned, "The
Power and The Myth" just doesn’t
count), which was voted as album
of the year by most of the melodic
hard rock sites. Therefore, the feeling
of expectancy was increased and,
personally, I was eagerly anticipated
for "Come To My Kingdom".
I had my doubts, owing to the new
White Lion & Bonfire have proved
to be mediocre, but suddenly a voice
whispered to me: you need not fear!
Ah, that voice inside is always right,
trust me!
In the words of
James Christian: "We
really had an amazing time with this
new CD. I think when people hear
the new record they will be able
to tell immediately that this is
a band with direction and vision.
Jimi Bell, BJ Zampa and Chris McCarvil
and Jeff Kent have been an absolute
joy to work with. They are my brothers
and they share the same passion to
write and perform Classic Rocks songs
that will stand the test of time".
Yes, sir! These are songs that certainly
have HOL’s trademark, meaning
huge choruses, soaring melodies,
hard rock blending with AOR throughout
the entire album. I wasn’t
ever a huge fan of "World Upside
Down" for the reason that they
sounded too raw for my liking, leaving
behind their powerful melodic side
not to mention keyboards. However,
here they are rocking big time on "Come
To My Kingdom" (hot stuff), "In
A Perfect World", "One
Foot In The Dark" and "In
The Light", as on the other
hand they display their AOR determination
on songs like "I Need To Fly" (a
future classic), "I Don’t
Wanna Wait All Night", "The
Dream" (simply gorgeous), "Your
Every Move" (Frontiers sound), "Even
Love Can’t Save Us" and "One
Touch" (fantastic). Finally,
the mid-tempo ballads we know and
love, such as "I Believe" (a
great acoustic led ballad) and "Another
Day from Heaven". I know you
voracious readers want some negatives
also, so here they are: the production
is a bit flat, as well as some guitar
parts should be more expanded, but
it’s the songwriting that counts,
right? James Christian does what
he knows best as well as the rest
of the band, and that’s a fact
that just can’t be denied.
Consequently, sing
along, dance or scream and shout
to the MHR sound. Whatever you like,
anyway. Some folks say that growing
older is, eventually, making you
wiser (softer is what they mean)
but, unfortunately, it seems like
I will always have a HOL in my bones...
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