Lord of the Lost - "Weapons of Mass Seduction"

 

They open this covers album with their take on Billy Idol's "Shock to the System". This is fitting because I have thought Harm's sounded like Billy Idol on parts of their previous albums, so this influence is not a surprise. For a band to take the time to learn another artist's song and then take even more time to record it must mean that the song holds value to them. Or they would be focusing on their own songs. This makes their choices more telling. They obviously are fans of modern pop music as the cover of  Sia's "Unstoppable" indicates. 

Without the falsetto vocals Bronski Beat's "Small-Town Boy" which was once an underground gay anthem, is much less haunting, not really conveying the same inner struggle of the original. Speaking of gay, the same could be said of Judas Priest's "Turbo Lover" which captures the feel of the guitar, Harms goes into more of a vocal fry scream than a powerhouse falsetto. His baritone is more flexible than most singers of his kind. The Ultravox cover captures the feel of the song well enough.  Not a huge fan of the original either. 

Never gave Micheal Jackson's "Dangerous" album much of a listen so I am less than invested in the cover of "Give In To Me". I do know this was the album's "Dirty Diana" so the guitar parts were already well prepped for the band, who up to this point has been making these songs their own. I am not that familiar with Bishop Briggs, so her "River" does not do a great deal for me. Keane's "Somewhere Only We Know" is too sappy for my tastes, I guess they make the most of what they have to work with here. 

"Died In Your Arms Tonight" is turned into a duet. This plays to the favor of his baritone allowing the female vocal to take the higher parts. However, I think it would have been more interesting for him to have sung the "it must have been something I said " parts. Aside from this, it might be the album's best song. It is probably my first time hearing Zealia Day's "High" and I can only imagine that the band is making some improvements as they go. I do know the Pretty Reckless' "House on a Hill". I think I prefer her version. I will give this album an 8.5, I know there is another version being released with more songs on it but the label gave me this one so that is what I am going with, it works pretty well more often than not and I always enjoys Harms' performance.