Fun and frolics at the monster show last fortnight as Lordi swept through the capital once again, this time to promote their new album, Limited Deadition. They brought with them Italian industrial rockers Sick ‘n’ Beautiful, who put on quite the eye ‘n’ ear-catching set themselves, with band members who looked like caricatures of Al Jourgensen, buxom green-skinned stickswomen, a glow-titty frontwoman channeling post-apocalyptic priestess aesthetics at key moments, and, most importantly, strong numbers such as ‘(Human) Is Overrated’, ‘Makin’ Angels’, and a pretty robust cover of KISS’ ‘God of Thunder’ (the original serving as the intro to the headline set). A solid well-presented show, despite some meandering numbers, and I got a nice shot with the band at the night’s end.
As for the horrific headliners, they left a strong positive impression of their latest album, Limited Deadition, and with only four songs from it on the setlist too! The likes of ‘Syntax Error’, which had Mr Lordi hitting some impressive high notes, ‘Retropolis’, and ‘Hellizabeth’, my favourite of the four, stood out in their neon AOR ’80s-inspired glory, even if the latter was somewhat hampered by the band’s insistence on lacing a drawn-out skit through it. It seems as if Lordi decided to settle on a sound not unlike that on Humanimals, the “1989” album in their psuedohistorical anthology boxset, Lordversity (2021). The presence of a song from said album, ‘Girl in a Suitcase’, on the setlist reinforced that perception, as well as reminding me of the missed opportunity for a Lordversity tour.
In any case, the fresh fish sat comfortably next to veteran tracks like ‘Who’s Your Daddy?’ (#ThatsWhatDaddyLikes), the storming ‘Blood Red Sandman’, and my introduction to the band, the ever anthemic ‘Would You Love a Monsterman?’ Sadly, due to cited restrictions at the Islington Assembly Hall, the Monster Squad couldn’t do full visual justice to their songs with pyrotechnics, but Mr Lordi at least brought the demon wings out to play for ‘Devil Is a Loser’, so I wasn’t too disappointed.
As ever, each band member got a segment and/or a skit between songs to flesh out the show, some amusing, others protracted beyond that point. To think that ‘My Heaven Is Your Hell’ could’ve made the setlist if not for the latter!
Still, gripes aside, it’s always a pleasure to see and hear these fiends live, a cause for Hard Rock Hallelujahs even,which delivered by the audience in abundance in response to the set-closing Eurovision-winning number.
Good show, Monstericians! More pyros and less protraction next time, though.
~MRDA~
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