Album Review: House Of Lords - New World-New Eyes

In today's episode, we once again check in on one of the least consistent bands I have run across. House Of Lords have produced a few great melodic rock records, with "Indestructible" in particular standing out as one of my absolute favorites, but they have also produced albums that make me scratch my head that I'm listening to the same band. That's where we were the last time we heard from them. I never know what to expect when going into one of their records, but I can't help but remember the good, so I have optimism for some strange reason.

This record splits the difference, never reaching the highs of their best, but never falling down on the job. To pull out a favorite term, this record is perfectly cromulent. For melodic rock fans, there's a lot to enjoy here. James Christian puts together a collection of songs that has stronger melodies and hooks than the last couple of records featured. Songs like "One More" and "Perfectly (Just You And I)" are good House Of Lords tracks, where James gives us smooth melodies that go down easy, and are bound to stick.

"Chemical Rush" is a total 80s throwback, where the keyboards overtake everything in the chorus, while the hook is able to float over the wash of sound. I'll be honest, though, that the mix of those keyboards sounds rather clipped during those moments. It's not the most pleasant of tones.

The writing runs into a problem when we get to "$5 Bucks Of Gasoline". First of all, the song isn't nearly as smooth or catchy as the better songs on the record. Secondly, the use of the dollar sign and the word bucks is a complete writing fail. He actually titled the song 'five dollars bucks', which is beyond stupid. Yeah, it's pedantic, but if you can't even notice that the title of your song makes no sense, what does that say about how much effort you put into other aspects of the process?

So like a lot of House Of Lords albums, this one is a mixed bag. It has more of the good than the last couple, but they can't get over having some of the bad thrown in as well. This is a better record than they've given us recently, and there are enough good songs here to make it an enjoyable listen, but you're not going to confuse this with a great album.