Guilty pleasures, let’s face it we all have them although they are only really guilty if you’re ashamed of them. For someone like me with absolutely zero street cred there is no reason to be embarrassed by such things as my enjoyment of Eurovision. My massively eclectic taste, love for awful novelty songs and one hit wonders makes Eurovision an annual experience, even if that is just watching it on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Every now and then though this universally despised politically driven competition gives us a gem.

In 2006 a group of monsters took to the Eurovision stage like a budget Gwar, with them they brought a ludicrously catchy Heavy Metal hit called Hard Rock Hallelujah that captivated a whole new audience for these Shock Rockers. Ignoring this though Lordi actually have a long history having formed back in 1992 and putting out a whole host of albums, there seems to be no stopping their reign, thus enters the bands ninth full length Sexorcism.

First things first, let’s not get our hopes up Sexorcism is basically everything you would expect from a Lordi album, generic Hard Rock/ Heavy Metal riffs wander below the gruff vocal tones of Mr Lordi and amongst all this an almost Gothic keyboard tone lurks unsure of whether it is Symphonic or Glam. All of these elements come together to create some pretty catchy tunes, the title track being one of the highlights however much like most of Lordi’s songs the album suffers from a false sense of excitement. For example when you read a song title like Polterchrist and combine it with Lordi’s sound you think this will surely explode, alas it merely ticks.

Without getting too negative there are some great songs, namely Naked In My Cellar, The Beast Is Yet To Cum and Rimskin Assassin. All of which are catchy or at least memorable in some form or another. All this said the album is far too long and suffers with a few fillers including the perfectly named yet totally disappointing Sodomesticated Animal, if I’ve learnt one thing from being a Lordi fan all these years it’s that the band know how to write a good song, but not a good album.

Basically this is everything you would expect, it isn’t that great but it isn’t the worst album I’ve ever heard in my life, and equally if someone ever offered me a ticket to a Lordi gig I wouldn’t turn it down. So dig out the old YouTube clips of Lordi’s Eurovision victory and rejoice as the slightly underwhelming poor man’s Gwar return to deliver a couple of good songs from an album that is too full.

(5/10 George Caley)

https://www.facebook.com/LordiOfficial