Review Summary: In metal I find my sanctuary
Turns out I do like Eurovision metal. Not that I knew Lord of the Lost had once appeared on the lighthearted song contest when I stumbled across “Opvs Noir Vol. 1" a few months ago. Initially this gothic metal offering perplexed me with its overt pomp and direct messaging but ultimately its relatable themes and strong songwriting firmly entrenched the record in my rotation in 2025.
Branching out to other styles has led to a cumulative attraction to cleanly sung German gothic metal with recent records by The Vision Bleak, Rammstein and Crematory serving as precursors to my sinking heavily into “Opvs Noir Vol. 1”. Readily accessible is one thing but to combine it with heaviness is an art form very much admired and hunted, with the likes of Lacuna Coil similarly satiating this dynamic with their new relatively heavy “Sleepless Empire”. The grand opener “Bazaar Bizarre” welcomes us the “children of the night, in turmoil we unite” with both a crushing of skulls and lifting of spirits with breakdowns and orchestral overlays.
More than anything else, this volume 1 opus is a personal recount of lifetime successes and failures, strengths and weaknesses. And interestingly how metal music, as explored in “My Sanctuary” has helped shape the singer and frontman Chris Harms’ outlook. The lines “in my own darkness, I create my melody, lost in the heaviness, the sweetest minor key, every note, every chord, echoes my plea, in this somber anthem, I find my sanctuary” particularly resonating with this metal music devotee.
A duet with Within Temptation’s Sharon den Adel (who I fell in love with in 2004 during “The Silent Force”) brings to life the ballad “Light Can Only Shine In The Darkness”, possibly a token gesture to those curious and for me the only nonessential track on "Opvs Noir Vol. 1" but to others could be a delight. Harms’ accounts and storytelling are very much at the forefront the whole album disclosing “I was not born in love, but I will die in it” another completely comprehensible chronicle. These dark tales are given big, brash soundtracks as found in the epic and urgent “Moonstruck” and the soul-baring “Damage” meaning “the damage I did to my soul” which I’m sure all of us are guilty to some extent. Gothic metal is intuitively human despite its flirtations with supernatural beings and unexplained darkness with the two fusing in the telling of “Ghosts”, “in your darkest dreams you know I’m gonna follow” another love story gone wrong.
The closest relative to “Opvs Noir Vol. 1” is probably Dani Filth’s fling with Devilment which produced a marvellous gothic metal spectacle in “The Great And Secret Show” in 2014. And these Lords of the Lost may have escaped my attentions until now but their declarations of “We are the Lords of Frye” are too damn fun to pass up, this tune an alestorm surpassing their Scottish namesake. There’s also plenty of “Once” era Nightwish hooks and flair but also furrowing of the brows with the powerful “The Things We Do For Love” and “The Sadness in Everything”, the latter seeing Harms pair with Tales of Time singer Anna Maria lamenting “in this tragedy called humanity can you see the sadness hiding in everything?”, a forlorn reflection on the current state of the world.
With every track the band traverses between slower heartfelt proses and booming metal incursions with pianos, synthesizers and other effects to create a sense of magick with “Opvs Noir Vol. 1”. With Vol. 2 incredibly about to drop so soon after the incredible opening chapter, Lord of the Lost have built a rod for their own back and who am I to doubt their chances of bettering Vol. 1, but I do know their Eurovision days are kaput.
