Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: House Of Lords
Label: Frontiers Records
Release: 2017
Length: 53:56
Rating: 4/5
Unbelievable. Where does the inspiration come from, where do the ideas come from after so many years and so many albums made with what’s basically the identical musical recipe? What can a person even still recycle, repackage and serve up one more time? Probably just their own heart and sincerity, which is of course the whole point. And that’s exactly what we’re sorely lacking these days. So James Christian and his House Of Lords are back again. Right in the mature years of their career, after House Of Lords went from a once massively successful act to a modest club band, trailed around the world by a fanatical handful of fiery devotees brimming with nostalgia.
This time the man actually took two whole years to make a new album. Don’t forget, between »Precious Metal« (2014) and »Indestructible« (2015) barely a year went by. And the new result? James Christian isn’t letting up. Once again he’s slyly slipped in the winning songwriting formula that has fired things up countless times before. This time is no different. House Of Lords fans will grab the new album with open arms.
»Harlequin« opens mysterious, downright mystical. That’s the title track, the one that kicks off the album. It’s like being shot straight back to »Cartesian Dreams« (2009), only with oriental scales breathed into the finer points of the songwriting, which conjures up from the distant past the spirit of the song Sahara and the band’s cult album of the same name. The production is, of course, modern, stripped down, bare, compact, much more riff-driven, alive and organic. James Christian once again took absolutely everything into his own hands. He’s a master of his trade and knows exactly what’s what in the studio. He’s superb as a producer, and as for his role as a songwriter, I won’t even waste words.
Christian’s voice has worn down a bit. You can hear it, for example, in the chorus of Ocean Divine, where he masterfully sinks the lead vocal melody into a whole constellation of multiple vocal harmonies surrounding the lead. The old fox knows exactly how to handle arranging the latest findings of AOR and melodic rock, where House of Lords have always reigned. “Harlequin” is thus a highly successful continuation of the musical story of the previous two albums. It sounds a little more sophisticated, the keyboards speak more penetratingly, at moments even adding a touch of symphonic feel, and the absolute focus is once again on the search for musical catchiness, which hits right away in the chorus hooks. The song The Sun Will Never Set Again opens with the support of an acoustic guitar, something that brings the new studio album closer to James Christian’s latest solo studio album. To be honest, it’s sometimes hard to tell them apart. The author is always one and the same – James Christian. A song like The Sun Will Never Set Again reinforces the AOR side of the album. »Harlequin« is an album for dreamers, for storytellers. It speaks that way too, partly as a personal confession, partly as fantasy. In this respect James Christian is a true preaching guru.
Once again the choruses steal the spotlight from one another, but the real beauty is the song New Day Breakin’ in the middle of the album. An unshakable AOR gem that would have lit up every commercial radio chart in the eighties. Christian is a much better songwriter today than he was in the eighties. He’s incredibly skilled at crafting musical seduction. I can say that with »Harlequin« House Of Lords haven’t delivered an album with such a strong retro, nostalgic AOR pulse in a long time. The cherry on top is once again the outstanding Jimi Bell, who shines again with phenomenal guitar solos! A master Christian can count on a hundred percent, every single time. Jimi is once again in the right place at every moment of the album. An outstanding guitarist.
»Harlequin« is another excellent House Of Lords album. Christian has once again deftly slipped in the formula of a musical recipe that fires on all cylinders, works, and keeps not just him but the whole band (artistically speaking) alive even in the mature years of their career. Fans of the band will be thrilled once more. »Harlequin« serves up fifty minutes of meticulously polished melodic rock that doesn’t bore for a second, which means the band has once again delivered a set of songs with colorful variety in both songwriting and mood. Not a single songwriting slip-up, in other words!
House Of Lords – Harlequin (official video):
Line-up
James Christian – vocals
Jimi Bell – guitar
Chris Tristram – bass
BJ Zampa – drums
Production
James Christian
Tracklist
01. Harlequin
02. Oceans Divide
03. Hit the Wall
04. Saint of the Lost Souls
05. The Sun Will Never Set Again
06. New Day Breakin’
07. Reign of Fire
08. Concussion
09. Art of Letting Go
10. Grains of Sand
11. The Other Option
