VELVET THUNDER

House Of Lords have genuinely hit the overdrive pedal, and Full Tilt Overdrive surpasses everything else they have produced to date.

House of Lords have been around a long time, having been formed back in 1987 by former Angel keyboardist Gregg Giuffria. Catching the end of the ‘80s glam/hair scene, their first two albums made the lower reaches of the Billboard Charts but they soon broke up, only to later reform and soldier on to the present day releasing new material without ever troubling the charts again. Full Tilt Overdrive is their twelfth studio album and shows House Of Lords continuing to absorb new trends while never quite abandoning their core ‘80s sound.

Full Tilt Overdrive opener Crowded Room doesn’t hold its punches and bursts in with one of the best riffs you will hear this year. The song hustles along powerfully, much heavier than most material I’ve heard by this band, and the layers of guitars and keys giving a dense epic feel that reminded me of another set of lords: Lords Of Black. James Christian’s vocal range is perhaps not what it was 30-odd years ago, but he’s still got a strong and attractive voice. Between his singing and Jimi Bell’s brilliant solo and riffing, the song doesn’t let up for a second. It’s a fabulous way to kick off the album.

Challenging Crowded Room as the standout track is You’re Cursed. This one opens with a pure NWOBHM riff and then a wonderful driving melody over hard-riffing guitars. There’s a brilliant hook line – ‘you’re gonna like it, like it‘, sings Christian, and by God he’s right! Bell’s solo is briefer this time, allowing time for Mark Mangold to dazzle us with a burst of keys.  Along with drummer Johan Koleberg, this is a superbly honed set of musicians.

As a prog fan, my attention was naturally drawn to the near ten-minute closing Castles High. This is a mid-paced piece with swathes of organ giving it something of a Deep Purple or Rainbow feel. Lyrically, it’s all castles and wizards so very much from the Dio songbook. It’s not quite Stargazer but it’s a superb old-style heavy rock song.

Another (perhaps surprise) highlight is the ballad, Don’t Wanna Say Goodbye, which follows the typical lighter-waving format but is vastly superior to some of the soppy efforts you hear elsewhere these days. Interestingly, I read on the net that the song is about suicide and not the usual boy-leaves-girl lyric. If so, thumbs up to House Of Lords for tackling such a serious topic. State Of Emergency also starts off like a ballad but builds up to a powerful mid-paced anthem with a memorable chorus line. Some of the remaining songs fall into the category of solid mid-paced hard rock material without particularly standing out – Bad Karma, Cry Of The Wicked and Still Believe fall into this category. Adding a bit of variety, Taking The Fall revisits Bon Jovi’s Dead Or Alive, while Not The Enemy demonstrates the band adopting more of a modern prog metal riffing style.

The press release for Full Tilt Overdrive claims that ‘the album stands shoulder to shoulder with the best albums from the band’s repertoire’. You’ll see similar claims on just about every press release you see these days, but for once it seems to be true. House Of Lords have genuinely hit the overdrive pedal, and Full Tilt Overdrive surpasses everything else they have produced to date.