Weapons Of Mass Seduction

About a year ago, Lord Of The Lost released their famous “Blood And Glitter” album which reached No. 1 of German album charts without any long promotion and marketing campaign. This album included a cover version of Roxette’s masterpiece “The Look”. Now it is time for the successor and more weapons of mass seduction.

Weapons Of Mass Seduction

The Deluxe Edition of “Weapons Of Mass Seduction” contains 22 cover songs on two CDs and the Deluxe Boxset contains three CDs with ten more covers.  Some of these songs had already been played live or have been released on other albums. We are reviewing the standard CD version with eleven cover songs. We try to avoid comparing the songs with the original versions, but consider them as independent songs as much as possible. So here we go.

Shock To The System (Billy Idol Cover)

Synths open this version, very Lord Of The Lost like, good up-tempo song with no time to breathe, it is too driving. If Lord Of The Lost decided to do a cover tour, this would be a perfect opener.

 

Unstoppable (Sia cover)

Things slow down a bit, less heavy melodies. This song starts very “romantic”. It invites you to dream away like any good power ballad. It is simply unstoppable as it takes us to the…

Smalltown Boy (Bronski Beat Cover)

I always thought this would be a perfect Lord Of The Lost cover and I am not disappointed. Of course the synths dominate the song. The theme of the song is still as valid as when it was first released, one of those timeless anthems.

Turbo Lover (Judas Priest Cover)

The spaceship starts its turbo engines. The lover raises his voice. The turbo lover rules. This time heavy guitars crash between the synth melody. And there is even time for a slower interlude before guest guitarist Niklas Turman plays the solo as if he had written it himself.

Hymn (Ultravox Cover)

Chris‘ vocals open this hymn on the spot until the kingdom comes. I am not a fan of queens and kings and their kingdoms. But I believe in this one. Very interesting vocal interpretations turn this hymn into something completely different, although it has been heard elsewhere. But where? 😉

Give In To Me (Michael Jackson Cover)

That’s a very unexpected song for me. I never thought it would go with Lord Of The Lost, but it does. Somehow, I don’t know why. It really touches me. Much more so than the original. Once again we hear some nice guitar work from none less than Niklas Turman playing the solo created by Slash.

River (Bishop Briggs Cover)

Piano notes at the beginning and distorted vocals pull the trigger. This is not an easy song. It is not a heavy metal song, but it comes along quite dark and gloomy. This is pure Gothic Lord Of The Lost from the early days. No wonder they chose this song.

Somewhere Only We Know (Keane Cover)

Once again, a song I did not expect to hear on Weapons Of Mass Seduction. Maybe it is the one that sounds the least like Lord Of The Lost. That doesn’t make it a bad song, just very different from all the others. Of course it is one of the slower tracks.

(I Just) Died In Your Arms (Cutting Crew Cover feat. Anica Russo)

This one fits much better and the addition of Anica makes it an even better song. I certainly don’t want to die, but if I had to, in her arms would not be the worst solution. Duets like this are certainly a strength that Lord Of The Lost should use more often.

High (Zella Day Cover)

I have to admit that I didn’t even know the original song, so I had to listen to it afterwards. From the beginning it builds up a tension that takes you higher, higher and higher! High until you’re on fire! It has a mood that would fit the “Judas” album perfectly.

House On A Hill (The Pretty Reckless Cover)

Can a cover version be very or too ambitious? I think it can and a lot of songs have been destroyed by a bad cover in the past. Is it the same here? Give it a listen and let us know what you think. I think it is a perfect ballad and a perfect Lord Of The Lost song written for Chris’ baritone vocals! It is just written by someone else, that’s all. And I already loved Taylor Momson’s original version with The Pretty Reckless.

So what do we have?

Judging cover songs is always difficult. There are always the die-hard fans who prefer the original versions. Most of the time they are right. Rarely is the cover version better than the original. In these eleven cases I would not say better or worse, but different. These eleven gems are far away enough from the originals that they can stand on their own. Lord Of The Lost have managed to make them their own songs, not just versions.  I can only recommend to give Weapons Of Mass Seduction a fair try. Listen to it and maybe even get the deluxe versions with 22 and 32 songs.

Short facts:

Lord Of The Lost:

 

Here is the full track list:

CD 1 (standard edition):

01    Shock To The System (Cover – Billy Idol)
02    Unstoppable (Cover – Sia)
03    Smalltown Boy (Cover – Bronski Beat)
04    Turbo Lover (Cover – Judas Priest)
05    Hymn (Cover – Ultravox)
06    Give In To Me (Cover – Michael Jackson)
07    River (Cover – Bishop Briggs)
08    Somewhere Only We Know (Cover – Keane)
09    (I Just) Died In Your Arms (Cover – Cutting Crew feat. Anica Russo)
10    High (Cover – Zella Day)
11    House On A Hill (Cover – The Pretty Reckless)

CD 2 (Deluxe edition):

01    The Look  (Cover – Roxette feat. Blümchen)
02    Ordinary Town (Cover – Celebrate The Nun)
03    Cha Cha Cha    (Cover – Käärijä)
04    Judas (Cover – Lady Gaga)
05    Children Of The Damned (Cover – Iron Maiden)
06    Wig In A Box    (Cover – Hedwig & The Angry Inch)
07    Bad Romance (Cover – Lady Gaga )
08    The Most Radical Thing To Do (Cover – The Ark)
09    This Is The Life (Cover – Amy MacDonald)
10    It’s A Sin (Cover – Pet Shop Boys)
11    Ordinary World (Cover – Duran Duran)

 

Bonus CD (Deluxe Box):

01    Starman (Cover – David Bowie)
02    Girl, You’ll Be A Woman Soon (Cover – Neil Diamond)
03    The Days Of Pearly Spencer (Cover – David McWilliams)
04    Hey You (Cover – Pink Floyd)
05    I Had Too Much To Dream Last Night (Cover – The Electric Prunes)
06    Where Do You Go To My Lovely (Cover – Peter Sarstedt)
07    Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is A Season) (Cover – The Byrds)
08    In The Year 2525 (Exordium & Terminus) (Cover – Zager & Evans)
09    All I Have To Do Is Dream (Cover – The Everly Brothers)
10    Perfect Day (Cover – Lou Reed)

Save the dates of the 15 Years Of LORD OF THE LOST Tour 2024 and the US/Canada tour:

 

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Lord Of The Lost

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proof reading by DeepL

Photo credit Jan Season