Abusement Park (1984)

Tracklist:

1. SCG Minus 4: The Carnival Barker
2. Abusement Park
3. Grrr!
4. Ghost Train
5. Carousel
6. House of Mirrors
7. Pinball Machine
8. Nasty, Wild and Naughty
9. Rollercoaster
10. Up to No Good
11. Merry Blah Blah Blah

Freaks, Geeks and oddities, the intro prepares us for a circus-like act, or as the title hints: a creepy amusement park. The creepy tones near the end and the horrifying voice that announces the name of the album, Abusement Park, has me thinking that I might be in for a horror rock album. The first proper track Abusement Park shows off that classic 80’s hard rock that was promised to us and announces what you can discover in the abusement park. The lyrics are something else, the typical horror inspired stuff as we know so well from Lordi. On the next song ‘Grrr!’, there’s a clear Scorpions vibe in there. The intro reminds me of Scorpions’ song Hurricane. I couldn’t help but laugh out loud with this song when the lyric “you make me go grrr” passes every time in the chorus. Also, Chewbacca drops by in this one, which catches you by surprise and will definitely make you giggle.

Ghost Train starts off with spooky vibes, slower guitar strums build up to the chorus that tells us about the pain of the being on the ghost train. After the spooky sounds return again, we get a fast solo on top of this slower song by lead guitarist Amen. Carousel opens with an piano bit and slow electric guitar on the background. Then the raspy voice of lead singer Mr. Lordi comes in singing with an almost vulnerable tone. I thought this was going to be a ballad from the beginning to the end. But my guess turned out to be wrong when the chorus comes in with more of a band and epic sound attacking your eardrums. The solo and the verses in this song are very rock ballad like, with a very strong 80’s hard rock chorus vibe.

House of Mirrors has a more upbeat style again with Mr. Lordi going into glam scream mode as well on this song. You know, that scream that starts low and goes all the way up into the highest note the singer can possibly reach without losing tone. In this song, I love the part before the last chorus where they only use the drums to guide the song. It just gives it so much more energy. Just one more thing to say: ‘’Stare at the devil face to face’’! Pinball Machine starts, you guessed it, with the sounds of a pinball machine. The low tuned electric guitar chords follow right after. The voice of singer Mr. Lordi goes in all directions like the pinball itself. He shows he can go both high and low. This in combination with a catchy guitar riff and chorus, got the song to rise to one of my favorite songs on this album.

Nasty, Wild & Naughty has to be inspired by Twisted Sister. Not only the title, but the cowbell reminds you of one specific very famous Twisted Sister song with plenty of cowbell. Rollercoaster start of surprising by single notes being played on an electric guitar. Then that goes over into chords and that goes into fast palm muted strumming. It has some of a heavy metal, Iron Maiden style vibe. Especially when the palm muting has some single, not muted, notes through it as well. The parts where only the drum is used to guide the song gives it this extra energy to ride on.

‘’Your life’s a rollercoaster to hell!’’.

Up to No Good starts off with a basic drum beat, then throws in the electric guitar by using a single ‘Kickstart My Heart by Mötley Crüe’ intro style. I really don’t know how to describe that sound in words, but it sounds awesome. Of course, Up to No Good is also a fitting title to have Mötley Crüe vibes. A very cliché rock song but again very catchy and headbangable. And lastly, Merry Blah Blah Blah gives you Christmas bells and much more. It’s the unwanted Christmas gift that once you have it, you realized that you needed it after all. Finally a Christmas song that’s changing up the clichés a bit. Played on clean electric guitar, it’s not the Christmas rock song that we expected form Lordi. It’s much better. It’s a song that you can play with your family around without them scolding you for listening to rock and metal. Later, have them be surprised at the electric guitars at the end. And also, the lyrics may rather be naughty than nice.

I compared this album a lot to other artists, but Lordi did give it an authentic Lordi touch for sure. The raspy vocals and the humor throughout the album give it that extra touch to it. Overall, this is an 80’s hard rock / glam / stadium rock album, like announced. It’s a classic Lordi album but leaned over to the genre mentioned above. While this album does not necessarily blow you away, but is definitely great fun to listen to. Also take the time to listen to the lyrics, you’ll be surprised to what’s hidden in there.