CD REVIEW: LORD – What Tomorrow Brings EP

Shane | 1 July 2015 | Reply

CD REVIEW: LORD – What Tomorrow Brings EP
Dominus Records
June 2015
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar
9/10

Maybe it’s because of who they gig with, but Lord are often lumped in at the more brutal & extreme edges of metal. In actual fact they lean more towards a traditional metal, taking their cues from the likes of Iron Maiden, Ozzy Osbourne and Helloween.

That’s not to say they’re not heavy as god at times – there are passages on this EP’s epic 25-minute-long title track where it feels as if the very weight of Valhalla is raining down upon you.

WTB forms the centrepiece of this latest release, a truly progressive piece of metal divided into ten sections like a heavy metal symphony.

Lord are also never afraid to venture outside of the sometimes narrow confines of what is expected of a metal band. There’s some truly moving piano in the title track, and it’s almost de rigueur for the band to throw down some left of centre cover versions.

As if one 25 minute track wasn’t enough, plus another roaring original called Haunted, the band tackle The Police’s Message In A Bottle, A Ha’s The Sun Always Shines On TV, Little River Band’s Playing To Win AND Helloween’s Someone’s Crying. Phew!

All are given the full Lord treatment, remaining reverential to the source material but stamped with Australia’s leading metal band’s individual identity.

What Tomorrow Brings is a tour de force for Lord, a release that sets them above the vast majority of their peers by virtue of their musical abilities, confidence and being unafraid to embrace all their influences, no matter how much of a ‘guilty pleasure’ they may be.