Lordi (FI)

About

Monster costumes, pyrotechnics, and horror theatrics might seem like a gimmick, but Lordi turned that whole package into a serious musical force. The Finnish hard rock band from Rovaniemi built their identity around Mr Lordi, the only constant member since the group formed in 1992, who designs the elaborate monster masks and costumes for every album cycle alongside writing the songs. Their breakthrough came with "Would You Love a Monsterman?" hitting number one in Finland in 2002, and they followed that up by winning the Eurovision Song Contest in 2006 with "Hard Rock Hallelujah", one of the most memorable moments in that competition's history. Their debut album Get Heavy went platinum in Finland and earned an Emma award for best domestic hard rock or heavy metal album. Later records like The Monsterican Dream, which featured singles "Blood Red Sandman" and "My Heaven is Your Hell", kept the momentum going. Gene Simmons of Kiss even showed interest in releasing their music in the US after Mr Lordi handed him a copy of Get Heavy during an interview. More recently, "Reel Monsters" arrived as an official music video in 2022, showing the band still very much at it.