Lordi: The Arockalypse : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

If Beavis, Butt-Head, Jack Black and Ronnie James Dio sat down together to imagine their ideal band, the end result would probably be something a lot like Lordi. Never seen out of its lords-of-the-Klingon-underworld get-ups, the Finnish band powered onto the scene last year when it won the fifty-year-old Eurovision Song Contest, which usually rewards the likes of Abba. Guest spots by Twisted Sister's Jay Jay French and Kiss' Bruce Kulick are obvious nods to Lordi's costumed predecessors, but this band seems much more in on the joke than those groups ever were. "Bitch, who's your daddy?" bellows singer Mr. Lordi, employing an almost dance-rock chorus against Judas Priest-style guitar riffs. The one Lordi will be remembered for, though, is "Hard Rock Hallelujah," a bombastic tribute to rock & roll, complete with a demonic backing choir, Dio-like banshee wails and killer lines, including "On the day of rock-oning, it's who dares wins." The day of rock-oning has arrived.