Germany's Lord Of The Lost lived up to their name at Eurovision 2023, limping home in last place. And that’s fine. The five-piece thrust their sparkling gimp-sticks into millions of homes, driving curious ears toward eight records packed with gothic industrial, symphonia and lovelorn litanies. Never to waste an opportunity, they’ve since lapped stadiums supporting Iron Maiden, now consolidating their gains with... a covers album. Are they flushing all that blood and glitter down the shitter? Yes and no. This isn’t Imperial Triumphant pretending to know Metallica’s Motorbreath and just doing jazzy death metal instead. Rather, Lord Of The Lost linger in their comfort zone – these are all massive tunes, easily transposed to their spoopy, keyboard-laden rock template.
Billy Idol’s Shock To The System does as the title suggests, if only because it’s not White Wedding or Rebel Yell. Frontman Chris Harms delivers the curled-lip charm of 90s Idol, filtered through his boss-level baritone; it’s sleaze, sex, soße. Niklas Kahl gets up to all sorts of rototomfoolery behind the kit, dispensing comically 80s percussion with abandon. It’s this cheekiness, this unbridled glee, that transforms Keane’s Somewhere Only We Know into more than a soundtrack for break-ups and Christmas adverts. We’re not talking Spider God levels of defiling Whitney Houston with black metal, but it undoubtedly winks and nudges around those milieus of piss-taking. That, or the band have zero self-awareness.
