LORDI Announces More 'Screem Writers Guild' Album Details, Shares 'Lucyfer Prime Evil' Single

Finnish hard rock monsters LORDI will release their eighteenth studio album, "Screem Writers Guild", on March 31 via their new label home, Atomic Fire Records.

The LP title — a "LORDIfied" play on words — is a reference to the "Screen Writers Guild", an association of Hollywood screenplay writers (1920s to 1950s),yet there is no doubt that LORDI's musical version is much louder and fiercer. "The record itself isn't a real concept album, but it obviously plays with the overall cinematic theme," says LORDI leader Mr. Lordi.

The news of the release is accompanied by the unveiling of the track "Lucyfer Prime Evil" alongside a lyric video, drawn by Kaarle and scripted and edited by mastermind Mr. Lordi himself.

Mr. Lordi explains: "This is the first chance for the fans to hear our new guitar player Kone in action on a record. He is doing a pretty lengthy guitar solo on the track, with Hella backing him up by keyboard harmonies here and there. It's also the very first time in LORDI's history that you can actually hear the whole band sing backing vocals on this album.

"Story-wise, 'Lucyfer Prime Evil' gives quite a good example of the themes and lyrical content that await you on the record: it's a horror story… like an eerie horror movie theme song. Although this song isn't really based on any particular horror movie, the conceptual theme of what to expect from the whole album should come across pretty clear."

"Screem Writers Guild" was produced by Mr. Lordi with Mana and Janne Halmkrona as executive producers. Ilkka Herkman took care of mixing and Pauli Saastamoinen mastered the record. The artwork was also designed by Mr. Lordi himself who has made a name as director for the band's vision since the early '90s.

"Screem Writers Guild" track listing:

01. Dead Again Jayne
02. SCG XVIII: Nosferuiz Horror Show
03. Unliving Picture Show
04. Inhumanoid
05. Thing In The Cage
06. Vampyro Fang Club
07. The Bride
08. Lucyfer Prime Evil
09. Scarecrow
10. Lycantropical Island
11. In The Castle Of Dracoolove
12. The SCG Awards
13. Heavengeance
14. End Credits

Last June, LORDI recruited Kone as the replacement for its departed founding guitarist Amen-Ra (a.k.a. Amen). Kone made his live debut with LORDI at the Rock In The City festival in Kuopio, Finland.

LORDI caused a sensation by winning the 2006 Eurovision with "Hard Rock Hallelujah", which in turn made the band's third release, "The Arockalypse", a hit throughout Europe. On the back of their Eurovision win, they scored a lucrative series of promotions including LORDI-branded cola, boiled sweets and credit cards; and played live at the MTV European Music Awards. A square was renamed in LORDI's honor in the Lapland city of Rovaniemi; a LORDI-themed postage stamp was issued in Finland and the group starred in its first film, called "Dark Floors".

With their monster-movie stage persona, LORDI seemed a most unlikely choice to represent their country in the Eurovision Song Contest. So you can imagine how many people were shocked when the group not only claimed top honors, but also earned the most points in the venerable event's history.

In a 2017 interview with MariskalRock, Mr. Lordi stated about LORDI's connection to Eurovision: "There was a time a couple of years ago — well, more than a couple — when I really, really, really hated that everybody's always asking about the goddamn Eurovision; there was a time. Nowadays I have come to terms with it. It's, like, okay, I'm actually proud that we are part of Eurovision history and I am proud that Eurovision is part of this band's history. I mean, it is a big part of our awareness. Because the awareness of the band would be so different, it would be so much smaller, without that one TV show ten years ago."

He continued: "I absolutely don't regret that — absolutely not. Because I have nothing bad to say about Eurovision itself, but the problem that we have had in the years is the people who actually don't know anything else except for the fact that we were on Eurovision. And that is a big stamp to get out of — it's like a fucking tattoo, you have a fucking tattoo on your forehead that says 'Eurovision.' And that is something that really, really, really drove me nuts some years ago; I was really struggling with that.

"I have come to terms with it — it's all right; I mean, it's cool," he said. "I am proud of it. And every May, when there's a new Eurovision, I know that my phone will start ringing and people will ask my opinions and then we get requests: 'Do you wanna come to this country's semifinals? Do you wanna come here?' And for years we said, 'No, we don't wanna. We don't want to.' But now, we're, like, 'Fuck it! Let's do it. What the hell?' I mean, c'mon, it's all fun, and it's part of our history, and the Eurovision, they really want us to come there, because, let's face it, we are one of those winners that people still remember."

LORDI 2023 is:

Mr. Lordi - vocals
Kone - guitars
Hiisi - bass
Hella - keyboard
Mana - drums

Photo by Eero Kokko