Lord – Digital Lies (Dominus Records)
Thursday, 13th June 2013
Lord would easily be double, or even three times the size they are now if they weren’t from Australia. Not to knock our friends from the Land Down Under (Blistering.com scribe Justin Donnelly would probably be all fired up if he were reading this), but the country’s distance from European mainland and us Yankees, in addition to a lack of sonic identity has crippled some of its bands, Lord included. Fact is, the release of Digital Lies made DR plunge into the band’s vault for a listen to their 2007 Ascendance and 2009 Set in Stone efforts with the discovery that Lord is one severely overlooked power metal band.
The fourth album from the band, Digital Lies puts on a noble European-like power metal front, souped-up with charging rhythms, soaring vocals from Lord Tim, and speedy melodies that are brazen enough to blow past Dragonforce. Well, not “blow past,” how about “totally out-duel?” Regardless, the head of steam that is forged on opener “Betrayal Blind” is the sort of call-to-mullet anthem that was common practice in the 90’s, but not as prevalent today. Shred is in the house on “Point of View” and the instrumental “Because We Can,” while the pace is tempered on “2D Person In A 3D World,” which is a humorous number probably aimed at everyone’s shortcomings.
Burly enough to run with the Symphony X freight, and with ample amounts of finesse to wine-and-dine the Stratovarious/Angra crowd, Lord’s ability to hold down the fort on Digital Lies is cause for the obvious question: Why aren’t these lads bigger?
