Two years after the release of the “The Arockalypse” and their triumph in the Eurovision contest, Lordi are back with their new album “Deadache”. The first listen of the successor of the “The Arockalypse” was very interesting, first of all because the composing level of the “The Arockalypse” was pretty high and secondly because I was so curious to see if the band, after all this popularity, would keep the same high quality they had established with their 3 previous albums.

What I first received from “Deadache” is that the compositions sound dangerously childish. The style is the same actually, but as far as the quality there is quite some difference among its compositions from those of “Get Heavy”, “The Monsterican Dream” and even “The Arockalypse”. Actually, I can’t even compare tracks like the old “Would You Love A Monsterman?” “Devil Is A Loser”, “Blood Red Sandman”, “Shotgun Divorce” to nonsense like “Bite It Like A Bulldog”!

The typical “monsterican” atmosphere of Lordi is here but a really great album needs first of all great compositions! “Deadache” unfortunately lacks those. The only tracks that slightly stand out are “Hate At First Sight”, which is actually the bonus track of the digipack edition and I must admit, it reminds me of something I can’t define, and also “The Devil Hides Behind Her Smile”, although of this last one as you can easily detect “stolen” parts from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s classical “Phantom Of The Opera”. What is the reason for a band to “borrow” music themes like this one? What can something like that give more to a composition destined to “catch” the audience? Sorry, I just can’t understand that…

In general, “Deadache” is not what I was expecting from Lordi and I don’t think it is what Lordi are able to deliver. It is uninspired and clemently mediocre (although not totally indifferent) and I believe it targets at the “post Eurovision” fans, because anyone who has known Lordi ever since “Monsterican Dream” or their debut “Get Heavy” will hardly “appreciate” this album…too bad!