Lordi is a Finnish hard rock band, formed in 1992 by the band's lead singer, songwriter and costume maker, Mr Lordi (Tomi Petteri Putaansuu). In addition to their melodic metal music, Lordi are also known for wearing monster masks and using horror elements with pyrotechnics during concerts and music videos. The band rose to fame in 2002 with their hit single "Would You Love a Monsterman?", and won the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 with their song "Hard Rock Hallelujah".
Lordi has toured and recorded actively since 2002, and Mr Lordi upgrades the band's costumes and masks for each album. The band has gone through several line-up changes, but original members Mr Lordi and guitarist Amen are still active with the band. Members of Lordi have stated their desire for their unmasked faces to remain private.
Lordi was formed in 1992 as a solo project by Mr Lordi. Lordi's very first demo album Napalm Market was done in 1993. The album included a song "Inferno", which also got a music video, all done by Mr Lordi. In the music video Mr Lordi performed unmasked but he had made monster make-up for his friends who played secondary role in the video. After the video was done, Mr Lordi got an idea of a band of monsters. "Inferno" was later released in Finnish "Rockmurskaa" compilation album in 1995. In 1996 Mr Lordi organized a Kiss cruise for Finnish Kiss fans from Finland to Sweden. During the cruise he met musicians Amen and G-Stealer, and told them about his music project called Lordi. After the cruise they joined the band. One year later Enary joined the band on keyboard and the band recorded their first album, Bend Over And Pray The Lord. At the time when the album was recorded, the band didn't have a drummer and they used MIDI drum tracks in place of a real drummer.
Ari Tiainen, the owner of their record company, had originally planned to publish the album; however, the company did not have sufficient resources to market it. Tiainen recommended Lordi to the record label Kimmo Hirvonen's Records, owned by Anaconda. The album was planned to release in early 1999, but Anaconda Records went bankrupt shortly before the planned release date and the album was never released.
The band never performed with the original line-up, though they had been promised a record release gig in 1999. During the same year G-Stealer left the band because of work commitments and was replaced by Magnum, whom Mr Lordi had met via Kiss Army Finland. In 2000, drummer Kita joined and the band got their first drummer.
After several failed attempts at obtaining a recording contract, Lordi signed a record deal with Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) Finland in 2002. In July, the band released their first official single, "Would You Love A Monsterman?", which rose to number one in Finland and spawned a music video. During the summer the band went under the auspices of producer TT Oksala's Finnvox Studios to record their first official album, though debut recording ran into several problems.
In autumn 2002, bassist Magnum was fired and replaced by Kalma. Though Lordi's debut album had already been recorded when Kalma joined, he appeared in the album art and the composition of the accounts. Their debut album Get Heavy was released in November, with a cover design loosely based on Kiss's Love Gun album. The original first sketch of the cover was based on Kiss's Destroyer album. The album won the 2003 Emma award for best domestic hard rock or heavy metal album, and Get Heavy has sold more than 67,000 copies. It was certified platinum in Finland in 2003 and multi-platinum in 2006.
Lordi played their first gig on 8 December 2002, in Helsinki at the Nosturi Club. In 2003, Lordi appeared at several music events in Finland and abroad, especially in Germany, where they played as a part of the Wacken Road Show. During some of the Germany tour, Lordi played as Nightwish's support act. The tour boosted both bands' popularity in Germany and helped them sign a recording contract with the German record company Drakkar. Nightwish had already achieved solid success of joint concerts in Germany.
Lordi's third album The Arockalypse was released on 1 May 2006. On 20 May 2006, Lordi made history by winning the Eurovision Song Contest held in Athens with the song "Hard Rock Hallelujah", becoming the first Finnish group to win the contest and consequently the first Hard Rock / Heavy Metal band to win; Finland would then send Power Metal band Teräsbetoni in 2008. The song scored 292 points, which was an all-time points record for then. Lordi was also a semi-final number one and even got 292 points, which was historic, as they were the first competitors to win both the semi-finals and the finals. Pasi Rantanen from the band Thunderstone performed backing vocals for the performance, wearing a Gene Simmons Kiss mask.
On 6 April 2021, it was announced that Lordi would be releasing no less than seven studio albums in October 2021. In the statement regarding the albums, the band said: "The albums will sound all different from each other, they're all in different styles and fictional eras in the Killection timeline. Five of the seven albums are already done, by the way, and number six is well on the way."
Lordi's music is formed by hard rock and heavy metal music elements. The band's horror-related albums, the monster costumes worn by all band members, and the horror elements of their performances are hallmarks of shock rock. The band was mostly influenced by Kiss, but also by Alice Cooper and Twisted Sister.
Although the band is often perceived by the media as a heavy metal band due to their monster costumes, their musical style has more characteristics of the hard rock genre. Over the years, the band's musical style has taken a very varied direction between hard rock and metal, with the pattern seeming as though it changes between the two with every album released.
Their debut album, Get Heavy, represented a large part of traditional hard rock music, but by the release of their The Monsterican Dream album in 2004, the band had shifted considerably toward heavier music and horror effects were prominently displayed. However, in their 2006 album The Arockalypse, Lordi shifted back toward hard rock, eschewing horror themes and special effects. Their 2008 studio album, Deadache, included more typical horror elements, leaning once again toward the heavier side of the spectrum.
Babez for Breakfast saw the band once again shift back to the traditional hard rock elements, with an even greater exposure to the 1980s than the band's previous albums. To Beast or Not to Beast focuses completely on heavy metal, and was the band's heaviest album. Their 2014 album, Scare Force One, contains elements of heavy metal while still maintaining the melodic rhythm of hard rock.
The band's 2016 album, Monstereophonic, is a "split album" consisting of two parts. Part one of the album (Theaterror) contains hard rock, while part two (Demonarchy) is conceptual, and much more progressive than any of Lordi's earlier content.
Lordi members have stated that their costumes were inspired by Kiss and the horror genre. Mr Lordi himself has said that without Kiss, Lordi probably would not exist. The monster masks and costumes the band use are made of foam latex, with some other materials like canvas, metal and leather. The masks and costumes of Lordi are all and always made by Mr Lordi himself. As a professional make-up artist and sculptor, Mr Lordi has the necessary knowledge to produce those things easily. The band members do each other's makeup. The band updates their outfits and masks for each new album.
It takes the other band members about one hour to put their masks and costumes on, though it takes Mr Lordi two to three hours to put on his. He has also said that the materials for suits costs "a few hundred euros".
The monster costumes are such an integral part of Lordi's publicity image that they refuse to be photographed or even interviewed without them, even if in some cases it leads to their own discomfort. Lordi has done interviews without their masks but the interviews are always filmed from the back so that their faces are not visible. Previously during interviews, Lordi members spoke only English to the cameras, not their native Finnish. In a brief segment on the BBC reporting about the band attending the Eurovision Song Contest 2006, they were shown lounging beside a pool in full sunlight, while wearing their monster costumes.
Pyrotechnics, and horror elements are important parts of Lordi's stage show, designed and mostly created by Mr Lordi. Lordi's pyrotechnics are inspired by Kiss, while the horror elements are largely derived from horror movies with some influence from Alice Cooper. Their stage platform is also equipped with monster actors, zombies, dolls, tricks, and sometimes stage dancers. Mr Lordi is also known to use a two-headed axe.
In 2009 the band made some new special effects with big help from Weta Workshop of New Zealand. The workshop has also designed scenery for movies such as The Lord of the Rings, King Kong and 30 Days of Night.
Lordi's Square, in the centre of Rovaniemi, Finland, the hometown of the lead singer Mr Lordi, was renamed shortly after the band's victory at the Eurovision Song Contest. It was part of a redevelopment of Rovaniemi city centre. After the Eurovision victory, all the members of the line-up at the time got tributes from their hometowns.
Itella, the Finnish postal service, issued a Lordi postage stamp in May 2007 in recognition of their Eurovision win. Itella had already released Lordi's Christmas single, "It Snows in Hell" in a special Christmas card edition.
A brand of soda, "Lordi Cola", was named after them and was launched in September 2006, featuring labels designed by Mr Lordi, several depicting individual members and one featuring the whole band.
The 2.6.17-rc5 version of the Linux kernel was named after Lordi.
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