{"id":329193,"date":"2025-08-09T00:18:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-09T00:18:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/329193\/"},"modified":"2025-08-09T00:18:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-09T00:18:11","slug":"lord-of-the-lost-opvs-noir-vol-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/329193\/","title":{"rendered":"Lord of the Lost – Opvs Noir Vol. 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Chris Harms has been in the music business since 1999, but it wasn\u2019t until founding Lord of the Lost<\/strong> in 2007 that he seems to have found his home. I say this not because I am familiar with him or the band, but because Harms has released ten full-length albums, three orchestral albums, four live albums, and one compilation since forming Lord of the Lost<\/strong>. Probably Lord of the Lost\u2019s<\/strong> biggest claim to fame is their participation at Eurovision in 2023, representing Germany, where they unfortunately placed last in the final round. But wait, isn\u2019t Eurovision for pop music? Why are these guys being covered on Angry Metal Guy? Apparently, they\u2019re metal enough to sign to Napalm Records and also have toured with KMFDM<\/strong> and Iron Maiden<\/strong><\/a>. And now with Eurovision in the rearview mirror, Lord of the Lost<\/strong> look to return to their darker roots with Opvs Noir Vol. 1, the first in a planned trilogy.<\/p>\n

Lord of the Lost<\/strong> play Rammstein<\/strong>-inspired industrial metal with a gothic tinge and pop beats. Synths typically dominate the mix, but occasionally the guitars take over on heavier cuts like \u201cDamage\u201d and \u201cLords of Fyre.\u201d What surprised me most was the variety of sounds on Opvs Noir Vol. 1, from the folk-y instruments on \u201cLords of Fyre\u201d to the use of symphonics throughout. The chants, organs, and strings on cuts like \u201cMoonstruck\u201d evoke Fleshgod Apocalypse<\/strong><\/a>, and they often bring a cinematic touch, which is appropriate given the musicians\u2019 penchant for elaborate costumes and makeup. On top of this already grandiose blending of genres is a touch of hip hop, most apparent on \u201cBazaar Bizarre,\u201d where Harms semi-raps over rhythmic beats. While these descriptions might scare many of you off, this is actually a lot of fun. The songs are catchy and the mix of styles means you never know what you\u2019ll get from track to track.<\/p>\n

Anchoring the music is the performance of Harms, as well as the choice of collaborators throughout Opvs Noir Vol. 1. Harms has an undeniable charisma\u2013his voice has a dark, sexy tenor that fits perfectly in either pop or heavy metal. He reminds me of Billy Idol <\/strong>and that dude who sings \u201cBlue Monday.<\/a>\u201d Harms also tries on some occasional death metal growls, and while his voice isn\u2019t as brutal as those more practiced in the style, they\u2019re effective in the few instances he uses them. Aiding Harms is a well-curated mix of collaborators, from the obscure to the more well-known. Notably, Within Temptation<\/strong><\/a> performs a duet with Lord of the Lost<\/strong> on the slow tearjerker, \u201cLight Can Only Shine in the Darkness,\u201d where Sharon den Adel\u2019s soft lilt contrasts nicely with Harms\u2019 deeper resonance. Probably my favorite is a collaboration with cellist Tina Guo on \u201cGhosts,\u201d though the catchiest chorus belongs to \u201cLords of Fyre,\u201d performed with fellow Napalm-signed Germans, the power metal band Feuerschwanz<\/strong>. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lord of the Lost<\/strong> make very few missteps on Opvs Noir Vol. 1. The 11-song record clocks in at a tidy 44 minutes, though it\u2019s almost eerie how many songs come in at the 3:40 mark. While they largely play to a traditional pop structure, Lord of the Lost<\/strong> also succeed on the more progressively-structured \u201cThe Things We Do For Love,\u201d which weaves from soft piano to heavy Eisbrecher<\/strong>-inspired riffs to hip hop to a chorus that absolutely nails it. Yet a few tracks keep this from being yet another 4.0 notch in my belt. \u201cThe Sadness in Everything\u201d ruins a talented performance by Anna Maria Rose by having her sing a melody that sounds an awful lot like \u201cThis is Halloween\u201d from A Nightmare Before Christmas. The finale also veers into self-parody when Harms sings \u201cTwinkle twinkle brittle star\u201d like a dramatic re-imagining of the classic children\u2019s tune. These moments may be small, but they do undermine the album\u2019s conclusion.<\/p>\n

Opvs Noir Vol. 1 is a very good start to this planned trilogy. Don\u2019t let the pop tag scare you away. Lord of the Lost<\/strong> has some quality songwriting\u2013the performances and collaborations should be enough to interest anyone who is a fan of industrial metal, symphonic metal, or even power metal. This is yet another Napalm act, like Warkings<\/strong><\/a>, where the songwriting improves on older material\u2013at least that which I\u2019ve sampled from both bands. Yes, that material is well-polished, poppy, and catchy, but it\u2019s a ton of fun and a welcome break from the bleakness of death and doom metal.<\/p>\n

\ufeff<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: 3.5\/5.0
DR<\/strong>: N\/A | Format Reviewed<\/strong>: Stream
Label<\/strong>: Napalm Records<\/a>
Websites<\/strong>: Bandcamp<\/a> | Facebook<\/a> | Official Site<\/a>
Releases Worldwide<\/strong>: August 8th, 2025<\/p>\n

\n\tGive in to Your Anger:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chris Harms has been in the music business since 1999, but it wasn\u2019t until founding Lord of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":329194,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3936],"tags":[743,10268,113326,80360,118461,118462,77,118463,118464,20844,118465,96022,118466,25347,118467,118468,269,118469,118470,3020,118471,118472,6080,6082,118473,118474,16,15,118475,118476],"class_list":{"0":"post-329193","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-743","9":"tag-3-5","10":"tag-aug25","11":"tag-billy-idol","12":"tag-deathstars","13":"tag-eisbrecher","14":"tag-entertainment","15":"tag-feuerschwanz","16":"tag-fleshgod-apocalypse","17":"tag-german-metal","18":"tag-glam-metal","19":"tag-gothic-metal","20":"tag-industrial-metal","21":"tag-iron-maiden","22":"tag-kmfdm","23":"tag-lord-of-the-lost","24":"tag-music","25":"tag-napalm-records","26":"tag-opvs-noir-vol-1","27":"tag-pop","28":"tag-pop-metal","29":"tag-rammstein","30":"tag-review","31":"tag-reviews","32":"tag-stimmgewalt","33":"tag-symphonic-metal","34":"tag-uk","35":"tag-united-kingdom","36":"tag-warkings","37":"tag-within-temptation"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114995941186484901","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329193"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329193\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/329194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}