I don’t know if I’m too strict with every new release by House of Lords but you must always be demanding from a band that put out 3 masterpieces in the period 1988-1992 and since then just… exists. Someone, possibly, will say: “well, now what are you waiting for? These things happened 35 years ago and can’t be repeated”. Someone else will certainly add: “which House of Lords? It’s basically James Christian and various session musicians”. You know what? Both opinions are correct…but still. Anyway. I wish I could write that “Full Tilt Overdrive” is a game changer for House of Lords. Unfortunately, I can’t do that.
James Christian gave his best. He really did. He brought along the great Mark Mangold who did a remarkable job in the studio but the end result falls flat for two main reasons. The first one is the completely trivial compositional character of the album which is prominently placed in the “generic” category as our American friends would say. The second obvious reason is the flat production that doesn’t help the level of the tracks at all. For example there is a classic House of Lords track in here called “You’re Cursed” that is lost due to the aforemtioned flat production. However, the truth is that Christian’s voice remains unchanged and Jimi Bell’s guitar parts are also noteworthy. That’s about it though.
“Full Tilt Overdrive” will pass into oblivion very quickly. That’s just the way things are. I honestly would like to write better things about the new album from my beloved House of Lords but I can’t. Even the overall artwork is below par. “Full Tilt Overdrive” isn’t a disappointment but it’s nothing special either. And that hurts the most…
Highlight: While writing these lines I was informed about Christian’s battle with cancer. May he come out victorious!!!
