House of Lords

Desperate for a measure of real success that had so far eluded them, the members of melodic rock band Giuffria turned to KISS mastermind Gene Simmons for guidance. Simmons's solution was to change the band's name to House of Lords (good call) and sack vocalist David Glen Eisley in favor of James Christian (another good call, and I say that as a big DGE fan). The band released their self-titled debut in 1988 on Simmons's own label.

The initial House of Lords release contained several songs that were originally intended for a third Giuffria album, so it's not surprising that the album has a strong Giufrria resemblance. It's a bit harder-hitting though, owing more to the era's popular hair metal scene than the AOR scene that Giuffria emerged from. I don't think you could call this a hair metal album though. Greg Giuffria's majestic keyboards give the music a more epic feel, and even with the standard love song lyrics the album never comes across as juvenile as the average Poison or Warrant release. The musicianship is high caliber as well, and James Christian does a great job filling Eisley's shoes. Lanny Cordolla's melodic guitar hooks are a highlight, as is the impressive use of backing vocals.

House of Lords ranks alongside King Kobra and Hurricane as one of the decade's most impressive (and most overlooked) melodic rock artists. Anyone interested in 80's rock and metal really should check out what House of Lords was all about, and this album is a good place to start. It's also one of the only early HoL albums that can still be found for a reasonable price.

NOTE: The 2000 Axe Killer reissue of House of Lords features remastered sound, and a remixed version of "Love Don't Lie" as a bonus track.

NOTE 2: If you'd like to hear a few of these songs with David Glen Eisley on vocals, be sure to check out his excellent Lost Tapes collection. I'm still not sure which versions I like best.

Simply a great album; worth buying.
"I just want to be loved" is clearly the commercial hit of the album.

House of Lords was a terrific band back then in the hair metal era. This first album from the band is surely very consistent from its beginning to its end. Extremely high quality music! I can say that the three albums the band recorded in those years are the pinnacle of Gregg Giuffria music and some of the best music of that decade. Greg was Angel's keyboard player in the past and after that he tried another time with a band called Giuffria to reach another huge commercial success and high level of music quality. But he had to wait until House Of Lords were born to obtain another time what he deserved. This music is epic, melodic, powerful hair metal, some of the best music of the period for sure. The sound of the band had great impact. The fusion between nice keyboard sounds and heavy distorted sounds generated an extraordinary powerful amalgama in the hands of these men. James Christian voice was superlative in the category and the songwriting consitently high on all the original three albums (this one, Sahara and Demons down). I treasure the three albums fron the band I was fortunate enough to have bought them at that time. Now they are unavailable unfortunatly. If you find them and you like fantastic energetic, high quality hair metal, buy them immediatly.

The debut by House Of Lords is a great album of thoughtful progressive hard rock. The opener, "Pleasure Palace", reminds me of when I went to Las Vegas and Atlantic City, while "Under Blue Skies" discusses how G-d has the ultimate power over what happens to us. There is some filler here, but the great songs are enough to make this a five-star album.

This band rocks, smooth vocals by Greg Giuferia and production by Gene Simmons...a solid combination that merits your attention if you're a serious rock fan.