Artist: House Of Lords
Label: Frontiers Records
Release: 2006
Rating: 3.5/5
House Of Lords, who returned to the scene by trying to imitate modern sonic adventures with “The¨Power And The Myth” (2004) and tried to cash in, which didn’t work, finally came clean with “World Upside Down” and went back to their roots, namely the album “Demons Down” (1992). So what you get is the band’s good old sound: highly melodic, pompous-sounding hard rock punchers, and once again they’re here with choruses that stick in your ear from the very first listen.
The main culprit behind this welcome change at House Of Lords is probably their founder Gregg Giuffria, who this time isn’t a member of the band, but is still one of the most important factors behind the shape “World Upside Down” ended up taking. Giuffria brings that much-needed recognizable sound!
You can feel on this album that House Of Lords have grown up. Singer John Christian has delivered the best vocal performance of the band’s career so far. On top of that, you have to add the tasty contribution of devilish riffing and excellent, soulful solos from guitarist Jimi Bell, with the rock-solid rhythm section of bassist Jeff Kent and drummer B.J. Zampa, who also played on the Michael Vescera Project, creating the contrasting sonic depth needed. In short, in this revamped lineup the band proves it can write material together that actually convinces, that it has real working chemistry, and that House Of Lords are by no means ready for the scrap heap.
Out of 12 songs, not counting the intro, there are simply no bad ones, though the quality does swing around. Standouts include the fiery Rock Bottom and the higher-“groove” I Am Free, which proves House Of Lords are still youthfully sharp, while on the other side we can enjoy tracks dominated by calm and songwriting maturity, which shows in the polished epic feel of the choruses on the mid-tempo These Are The Times, My Generation and S.O.S., while House Of Lords, known for their mastery of writing punchy ballads and semi-ballads, managed to convince in this department with the album’s title track and with Fields Of Shattered Dreams. Of course, they definitely overdid it here, because the semi-ballad All The Pieces Falling, with its added dose of pathos, comes across as downright tearful and childish and takes away from the album’s dynamics. Including it was one move too many, since the album already has three semi-ballads. This pathos is usually present in many American hard rock bands cut from the same cloth as House Of Lords and clearly gets deeper over the years, which is the only remark that might put off fans of everyday realism from “World Upside Down”.
All in all, with “World Upside Down” House Of Lords made a worthy comeback to the scene, something “The Power & The Myth” (2004) just wasn’t capable of. They launched an album that confirmed expectations and delivers a level of music that every fan of the American approach to melodic hard rock will be happy with, with the caveat that this is an album on which the new House Of Lords are definitely still holding something in reserve, and which its successor will have a chance to reward in many ways someday.
Lineup
James Christian – vocals, acoustic guitar
Jimi Bell – guitar
Jeff Kent (bass guitar, keyboards, backing vocals
B.J. Zampa – drums
GUEST MUSICIAN:
Gregg Giuffria – keyboards
Production
Gregg Giuffria
Tracklist
1. Mask Of Eternity
2. These Are The Times
3. All The Way to Heaven
4. Field Of Shattered Dreams
5. I’m free
6. All The Pieces Falling
7. Rock Bottom
8. Million Miles
9. Your Eyes
10. Ghost Of Time
11. My Generation
12. S.O.S. In America
13. World Upside Down
Album length: 57:16
