When thinking of the 80s there are some bands that most people may or may not remember. Although having two hits with "I Wanna Be Loved" and "Love Don't Lie" on their amazing debut in 1988, not a whole lot of people seem to show much love for House of Lords. Their second album "Sahara" seems to turn up in a lot of cd bargain bins somehow despite reaching platinum status, having a huge list of notable guest musicians, at the time being a relatively successful album and actually going platinum. Its follow up comes off as being extremely bluesy and maybe not most people's cup of tea that loved the hits of their debut album. A year later, the band pretty much decided to call it a day. This is a fate that happened to many bands in the past and few were probably very surprised, but once grunge arrived a lot of bands lost their focus and ultimately their careers. I am not sure anyone expected much out of House of Lords ever again.
Over the next several years the band had several arguments over the rights to the name once talks of reforming started to take place. Eventually after much delay they released a new album in 2004, which ended up being one of their lowest rated pieces of work since originally forming and only to have virtually the entire band leave once again afterwards. By 2005 the band completely reformed anew with lead vocalist, guitarist, and keyboardist James Christian being the sole original member left. As many trials and tribulations the band has gone through they have been consistently been releasing extremely solid and well liked melodic rock albums ever since. From a personal standpoint I have felt that they have been doing some of their best work over the past several years.
The 2014 release by House of Lords called Precious Metal is pretty much what most would expect from them given their recent work. Not just a good play on words, the album is an excellent blend of soaring, memorable choruses, slick and crisp guitar riffs, and slightly gruff, yet melodic and emotional vocals. From the very opening track “Battle” there is several epic keyboard parts and drum rolls right off the bat and it is hard to find a band who writes catchier bridge and chorus parts to their songs. Some tracks do get a bit repetitive and some tracks such as “Epic” and “Swimmin With the Sharks” come out a bit cheesy and cliché at parts, but there are plenty of well written, uplifting melodic rock tracks to where it isn't even really that noticeable. One of their biggest accomplishments to me has been writing amazing power ballads, and the title track definitely does not disappoint, very clean and emotional and right up there with some of their previous work. Sleazy tracks such as “Raw” and “Action” are also something they have been known for a number of years and they are definitely not ones that let you down either, especially the latter.
All in all I would say that Precious Metal does have a few throwaway tracks, but what album doesn't. It may not have as many earth shattering and amazing tracks as say the debut or World Upside Down, but there are still plenty of good rockers in there that keep it on par with their more recent albums. For a band that has had their fair share of ups and downs over the past 25 plus years, I am really happy to see that they keep churning out relatively solid material. Since there are a few sub-par tracks on this album, although I do still find it quite enjoyable for the most part, I am giving it a rating of 75%.
Adam Philips, HMS
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