Come To My Kingdom

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

 

 

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House of Lords were put together by former Giuffria members Gregg Giuffria (Angel), Chuck Wright (Quiet Riot) and Lanny Cordola. They brought in Alice Cooper drummer Ken Mary to fill out the instrumental portion of the group and based on some early demos they caught the interest of Kiss bassist Gene Simmons, who signed the band to his new custom label Simmons Records, a subsidiary of RCA/BMG.

The band's 1989 self-titled debut, produced by the legendary Andy Johns (Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones), also featured the untapped talents of vocalist James Christian. The album is still regarded as one of the best arena rock releases of the 80's. The colossal sound, the soaring vocals and instrumental capabilities of the band, reminiscent of such frontrunners as Whitesnake, Deep Purple and Van Halen, immediately brought the band to the attention of the media and fans.

In 1990, House of Lords released their sophomore effort, "Sahara", produced again by Andy Johns. With Doug Aldrich filling the spot for Cordola, the album is another spectacular sampling of incisive, tastefully executed hard rock. House of Lords gained considerable chart success with their cover version of Blind Faith's "Can't Find My Way Home". It was the number one most requested song on rock radio in the U.S. that year. After a long tour with Nelson in 1991, the group disbanded.

Another version of House of Lords was formed in 1992 thanks to the input of JVC in Japan who went on to produce a third album for the group: "Demon's Down". This was a more melodic record, with a dramatically altered line-up that only featured original members Giuffria and Christian. This new incarnation however didn't last long, before the band called it a day. House of Lords reunited in 2000 with the original line-up featuring keyboardist Gregg Giuffria, bassist Chuck Wright, drummer Ken Mary, guitarist Lanny Cordola and singer James Christian, releasing the controversial "Power and the Myth" an album which featured a sound leaning more towards Progressive Hard Rock with 70's rock influences.

After a short European tour, singer James Christian decided to go back to the trademark Arena Rock sound of House Of Lords, putting together a new line-up with the blessing of founding member Gregg Giuffria, who opted out right before the release of "Power and the Myth". New members Jimi Bell on guitars, B.J. Zampa on drums and the last arrival Chris McCarvill on bass have supplied a true powerhouse sound to the fifth studio album "World Upside Down", a record which caused a real stir in the Hard Rock and Melodic Rock scene. House of Lords toured relentlessly Europe and the States in support to the release and delivered some great performances, who had their peak at the United Forces of Rock Festival 2006 in Ludwigsburg, Germany where the band went down a storm playing in front of a screaming crowd.

"World Upside Down" was a real success for the band, so James Christian and the guys went back to the recording with the precise task to create a true rock milestone which could pick up where "World Upside Down" left off.

The result is "Come To My Kingdom": a record which is a solid reminder that House Of Lords is a musical force to be reckoned with in the melodic rock world. The new album is filled with expertly crafted songs that cross over from the melodic world to 2008, without missing a beat. The sheer power of the vocal and music will make you a believer that "Come To My Kingdom" is destined to become a true classic House Of Lords album

I suspect most people reading this review are already familiar with `House of Lords' and have purchased their amazing last studio effort `World Upside Down', and therefore I will target this review towards those people.

I guess there are two main questions fans want answered. Firstly, is this record as good as or better than `World Upside Down' - the answer is unfortunately `NO'. Secondly, is this record still worth purchasing - the answer is definitely `YES'.

I read reports of this bettering the last album. This is not the case in my opinion, but then again this would have been too much to ask. The last album was simply phenomenal and so topping that was always going to be tough.

The problem with this album is that it is musically all a bit `samey' and sounds very formulaic. Gone is the edginess and variety of the last album and sometimes it can feel like you are listening to the same song again and again. It therefore takes a few listens to start identifying with individual songs. Another slight compliant is that lyrically the songs are also very similar to each other and you are sometimes left thinking `ok, we heard this on the last song'. All the songs are quality material, but there are no killer stand-out tracks like on the last album. One thing I really appreciated however was that the album ends well and the last 2 tracks (excluding the bonus track - acoustic version of a song that appears earlier in the album) are 2 of the best tracks on the album.

This is all sounding very critical, but I am comparing it to the last album to help readers know what to expect. If I am to review the album in isolation, there are many positives and `Come to my Kingdom' is still a great melodic rock record with stellar musicianship, big choruses, and of course great vocals, as always, from James Christian. It is still going to be one of the better rock records to be released this year.

So in summary, this album is definitely worth adding to your `House of Lords' collection. Just don't keep your expectations too high.

I found out about House Of Lords only a few months ago purely by accident. There was a Jimi Bell section on the Dean guitar website. On the strength of hearing "Rock Bottom" I immediatly got the album "World Upside Down" The style was a magical mixture of metal guitaring fused with melodic rock. The songs are really strong so I was pleased to see the release of "Come to My Kingdom". I have purchased some of their earlier stuff which is also good but the style is very spandex rock. I was therefore hopeful that this latest effort would be in the same vein as "World Upside Down". I was not dissappointed. This album is absolutely brilliant with the title track not only being the best song on the album but just one of the best songs ever! I am so pleased I was lucky enough to find this band they a superb. Go buy the album

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5.0 out of 5 stars Incontinent Old Men Snoozing On Sumptuous Red Leather Benches?
To the average man in the street I suspect House of Lords will conjure up little more than images of incontinent old men snoozing on sumptuous red leather benches... Read more

Published 24 months ago by THRUSH Central

5.0 out of 5 stars Full House !!!!!!!!
What can I say? remember their debut album but thats all, until I checked some reviews out recently on Amazon and found they where still recording... Utter brilliance!! Read more

Published on 28 Feb 2009 by N. J. Barton

4.0 out of 5 stars A Good Follow-Up to "World Upside Down"
Another solid album from House of Lords, but doesn't quite hit all the buttons like World Upside Down did for me. Read more

Published on 18 July 2008 by The Doctor

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