Artist: House Of Lords
Label: Frontiers Records
Release: 2011
Running time: 49:08
Rating: 4/5
After James Christian stepped up to front House Of Lords (with Gregg Giuffria’s blessing – when Giuffria left the band), House Of Lords flirted with their traditional sound from the turn of the eighties into the nineties, which back then catapulted them among the most prominent acts in melodic rock. Sure, the genre has long since left the crowds’ spotlight, the way it was when House Of Lords started out, but that musical climate is exactly where House Of Lords feel most at home, and James Christian, luckily, knows it well. And what’s even more important! He sticks to it faithfully!
So the new album follows the revived course first embodied by 2006’s “World Upside Down”. After “Carthesian Dreams” (2009), “Big Money” is the first album in the band’s career where Christian managed to keep an identical lineup that recorded two albums in a row. For the songwriting, Christian teamed up with Mark Baker again, and Swedish workaholic, producer and guitarist Tommy Denander pitched in as well. What’s surprising about the new House Of Lords album is the rawer production. That goes especially for the guitars, which push further to the front than usual, keeping a slightly smudged, crackly sound in the mix, which in melodic rock can be a double-edged sword. And yet the coin landed on the right side for Christian again in this “experiment” too. The Christian – Baker – Denander triad managed to put together no fewer than 12 new songs, which once again boast brilliant arrangements and keep a high level of melodic tightness, a new House Of Lords constant since 2006, that is. The shift toward a livelier, more direct guitar tone works positively at worst, bringing even more dynamics and punch. Of course, it’s not like that everywhere! Take the lone ballad-ish The Next Time I Hold You, which tries, at least in the verse, to chase the catchiness of the hit Love Don’t Lie somewhat tamely, and where the guitars lie low and orchestral arrangements shine in the background.
Interestingly, the opener, Big Money, can be a bit misleading, since it comes across as the most direct track – for the new House Of Lords, almost too direct (Blood brings back some of that feel at the close). But One Man Down, right after Big Money, instantly puts things back in their usual place, since it carries one of the most seductive melodic choruses on the album. Overall, “Big Money” is, out of the last four, the House Of Lords album on which the band managed to put together a few “gems” that stand out shamelessly in hookiness. Whatever the merits of the previous three albums, those three didn’t have such prominent highlights. Besides One Man Down there’s Someday When, with its superbly structured multipart vocal harmonies (Christian’s life partner Robin Beck is once again an indispensable link of the album here), then Hologram and, just before the end, Once Twice – both peaks of the album in the melodic allure of their choruses.
Living In A Dream World owes much of its inspiration to following in the footsteps of Rainbow in the “Dio era”, with the verse practically nodding at the Rainbow song Gates Of Babylon. Also interesting is the inclusion of First To Cry, originally written by Mark Baker and first “laid down vocally” in audio form for his demo recordings by Unruly Child singer Mark “Marcie Michelle” Free (ex-King Kobra, ex-Signal), this time with a much fuller depth of sound. First To Cry was also covered years ago by the Scandinavian melodic rock band Ignition. Had it been a House Of Lords original, it would count as one of the highlights of “Big Money”.
Not to ramble on too long. “Big Money” keeps up the consistency, in fact raises it to a higher level, since House Of Lords have finally made it through two releases in a row with an unchanged lineup. In the arrangements, all the songs are once again superbly dressed. Not a single slip. The melodic principle of putting the lead motifs up front, with seductive choruses taking the central role, is used to the fullest. James Christian remains a master of vocal caliber and his famous raspy, ultra-melodic approach remains intact. There’s the excellent, lively playing of guitarist Jimi Bell, who once again points to his undoubted talent in polished guitar solos, as well as a penetrating rhythm section that holds the “undercarriage” of the arrangements firmly in place and fans the punchiness of the House Of Lords sound itself. “Big Money” is a new, consistently solid House Of Lords studio album. We can say it’s the most mature, arrangement-wise, among the band’s last four releases, and the deliberate “reduced control” in the production is welcome too, preserving the raw character of the songs, with the outline of the mildly crackly smear of guitar phrases pushed up front. It’s an album every true House Of Lords fan surely has at home already!
Lineup
James Christian – vocals, keyboards
Jimi Bell – guitar
Chris McCarvill – bass guitar
BJ Zampa – drums
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Robin Beck – backing vocals
Production
James Christian & Jimi Bell
Track list
1. Big Money
2. One Man Down
3. First To Cry
4. Searchin’
5. Someday When
6. Livin’ In A Dream World
7. The Next Time I Hold You
8. Run For Your Life
9. Hologram
10. Seven
11. Once Twice
12. Blood
