Lordi // LIMITED TOUR 1st DEADITION // Sick N' Beautiful // Islington Assembly Hall // London

Their third year in a row playing London in April, nightmarish Nordic outfit Lordi rocked Islington Assembly Hall in support of Limited Deadition. The quintet kicked off the first leg of the tour in Tampere, Finland, on the twenty-first of March, the said record’s release date. They are celebrating the birth of their nineteenth album with just as many concerts on the First Deadition of their Limited Tour ’25, including six shows in the United Kingdom before the end of its run in eastern France. A further eighteen gigs dubbed as the Second Deadition are scheduled this autumn, with over two-thirds taking place in Germany, four in Spain and a single, final stop in the Lithuanian capital.

Forty-five minutes after the venue doors in north London opened, Italy’s alternative metal sideshow and special guests Sick N’ Beautiful brought outer space vibes to the stage. Starting with a track from the forthcoming and fourth full-length, its tension-building intro rousing the crowd to cheer, the five-piece’s colour theme of black and green matched the cover art of the fourth and forthcoming album Horror Vacui, which will be released on the eighteenth of April.

Travelling back in time to 2022, the cosmic crew made sure Islington were Starstruck before declaring ‘Tonight We Go To War’. A guitar solo towards end from Nemes raised some horns and certainly lifted a lot of spirits. Referring to the people before her as “tyrants” as they were still clapping for the previous song, lead vocalist Herma Sick announced the arrival of the KISS cover song ‘God of Thunder’, before stating “…you know this one!” She could definitely read the room because many were singing their lungs out to the seventies classic.

Ahead of bass-heavy banger ‘Drop It to the B’, the front woman claimed that the band usually use their alien superpowers onstage but refrained from doing so for the safety of others. The sing-alongs did not stop there as dozens of voices rose to join Herma as she sang the whoa-oh-oh-oh-ohs in order to ‘Raise The Dragon’, just one early example of amazing audience participation on the evening.

Bassist-vocalist Big Daddy Ray checked in with the crowd to ask how many people had just been introduced to Sick N’ Beautiful and if anyone will tell their friends about them. The show of hands for both questions, especially the last one proved that the Italians were showing the crowd a good time. Some catchy riffs from guitarist L0r1 and an infectious chorus during ‘Hate Manifesto’ provided metalhead with yet another opportunity throw their hands in the air and sing once again.

After the last of the trio of new tunes and a drum solo that threatened to “bring the house down” from “the queen of the thunder tribe” Evey, it was time to welcome the ‘New Witch 666’, which featured some Old Gaelic lyrics spoken from what appeared to be an fuming, illuminated spell book. SN’B chose to stay in Hell Over Hell with the decade-old album and closed their set with Makin’ Angels, which saw the lead singer wave a black flag bearing the title in the second half of the song.

With all the men obscuring their eyes with either shades, goggles or a mask, their fearless leader armed with glowing green breast implants (not to mention her two wardrobe changes mid-set) and the bassist wielding an instrument with a flowing green side panel, Sick N’ Beautiful is a visually striking entity. Though make no mistake, their extra-terrestrial aesthetic also applies to them musically, as they crossover into different sub-genres effortlessly and fluidly.

Sick N’ Beautiful set list:

(Human) Is Overrated
Tonight We Go to War
God of Thunder [KISS cover]
Drop It to the B
Raise the Dragon
Hate Manifesto
New Witch 666
Makin’ Angels

Photography by Artur Tarczewski

Review by Kira Levine

Half an hour later and it was time for fans to be treated to the main monster event, courtesy of Lordi. The five Finnish frighteners had ‘God Of Thunder’ playing from the PA system as they prepared to take to the stage, marking the second time the song was heard at the venue on the night. Fans seemed happy to see keyboardist Hella as she announced last month that she would bot be able to commit to the whole tour.

Limited Deadition’s intro track could be heard from the speakers before the band played ‘Legends Are Made of Clichés’ live, allowing the crowd to experience the beginning of the album in chronological order. Everyone then had the pleasure of watching ‘Girls Go Chopping’ giving them a dose Deadache. Mr. Lordi announced that it was the Finns’ first time playing Islington Assembly Hall before guitarist Kone played a snippet of the patriotic jingle ‘Rule Britannia’.

After ‘Who’s Your Daddy?’, the theme for eighties television series Knight Rider played as Mana performed a drum solo that incited a mass clap along. Taken from Abracadaver, one of seven albums in the 2021 boxed set Lordiversity, ‘Beast of Both Worlds’ saw Mr. Lordi wear an apron and human face mask. As the crowd revelled in the theatrics, he “cut” a person in half with a chainsaw with a motorised chain.

Swapping sides with bassist Hiisi, Kone stood on the speakers in front of the right side of the stage as he executed the solo for ‘The Riff’, much to the delight of front-rowers. Hella “beheaded” a chained up victim after ‘Girl in a Suitcase’, then her keyboard solo served as a prelude to ‘Syntax Terror’ which played host to some impressively high vocals from the band leader.

A rather memorable event on the evening was when a fan named Reece proposed to his girlfriend onstage (who luckily accepted). As the applause of well-wishers subsided, it was time to ‘Call Off The Wedding’ with a ballad. Lead guitars on the album version of this song were performed by Bruce Kulick, formerly of KISS, which makes sense as Lordi’s mastermind is a massive fan and founded The Finnish KISS Army. The lights went down for the beginning of this song and Kone’s upper suit – fitted with about ten lightbulbs – lit up.

However, one individual was left less-than impressed and, even after apparently suffering a crude hemicorporectomy and having only his skeleton left of his torso, he was able to call Kone a POS from the on-stage portal entrance. The time to shine for the axeman did not stop there as he captivated attendees with some shredding. A double bill of newbies in the form of ‘Retropolis’ and ‘Hellizabeth’ ensured fans had some fresh material to sink their teeth into as the set approached the hour mark.

Hiisi’s bass solo was interrupted by a snake-like creature erupting from a man’s body in the portal-way which caused the bassist to pause and pet the fellow reptile. As the reptilian continued to play, it became apparent one of his arms had some scales falling off of it. Perhaps he was in the process of shedding his skin…

Taken from their penultimate album, The Monsterican Dream, ‘Blood Red Sandman’ had heads banging and feet stomping along to the two-dead old track. Mr. Lordi had a chance to Get Heavy and spread his demonic wings for ‘Devil Is a Loser’, remaining in 2002 as he asked ‘Would You Love a Monsterman?’.

Life-sized doll Hella tickled the ivories one last time in Islington for ‘Hard Rock Hallelujah’, the hit that made Lordi an international success after winning the Eurovision Song Contest almost twenty years ago. London did not need to be told twice to jump up and down before the bridge, surprisingly full of energy after belting out the words to the banger.

A cracking show that is bound to be the highlight of the Easter break for all who attended. Long live the undead Lordi!

Lordi set list:

God of Thunder [KISS song]

SCG XIX The Hexecutioners