Album Review: Lordi – Sexorcism

The eighth album from Finnish shock-rock band Lordi is crass, crude, and way better than it has any right to be.

Back in 2018, I wrote a bunch of reviews that I couldn’t publish anywhere. So I’m putting them here.

Sexorcism, the eighth album by Finnish shock-rock band Lordi, is an hour of crass, unapologetic, in-your-face hard rock. Drawing inspiration from 80s cock-rock greats like Def Leppard and Kiss, as well as schlocky, straight-to-video horror soundtracks, Sexorcism is just the shot in the arm shock-rock needed.

The best thing about Sexorcism is how much it does with fairly little. The album’s title track is a simple song built around a chunky guitar riff and atmospheric, almost New Wave-y keyboards, backed up by a lightning-quick, two-note bassline and equally quick drumming. Lyrically, the song is essentially a bad pun entertainingly stretched out over three minutes, with lots of opportunities to sing along. Nothing on “Sexorcism” is new, but it’s well-executed, and so fun it’s infectious. Later songs on the album strike the same nerve: “Romeo Ate Juliet” is a fist-pumper with awesome guitar breakdowns; “Rimskin Assassin” is a song so silly it’s hard not to sing along; “Slashion Model Girls” a refreshing take of the obligatory ballad.

Sexorcism actually has two ballads on it. Lead single “Your Tongue’s Got the Cat” is a bass and synth-heavy song that sounds like a mid-80s power ballad in the vein of Def Leppard or a heavier Journey. “Tongue” is a standout song for keyboardist Hella in particular, whose melodic synths sound like something out of a Giorgio Moroder score.

Other standouts on the album include “Polterchrist” – a horror-anthem featuring guest vocalist Isabella Larson singing creepy “la, la, la”s at the start and end – and second single “Naked in My Cellar”.
“Naked in My Cellar” is frankly one of the best songs Lordi has ever recorded. Starting on Hella’s excellent synths, “Cellar” quickly hands the reigns over to bassist OX, who delivers the album’s defining bassline, as guitarist Amen follows his lead. Drummer Mana also shines on “Cellar”, turning the song into the biggest headbanger on the album. Meanwhile, singer Mr. Lordi – and presumably the rest of the band on backing vocals – deliver a catchy bridge and chorus that will be impossible to ignore live.
The whole song sounds like if Alice Cooper had written the theme for a Joel Schumacher movie.  

8/10