Logo
  • judaspriest20

  • inthismoment8

  • Heart1

  • NightRanger13

  • AliceCooper5

  • Whitesnake M3 2011 4

  • Volbeat1

  • KidRockB

  • IronMaiden

  • Slash2

  • CD Reviews A-H
  • CD Reviews I-P
  • CD Reviews Q-Z
  • Photo Galleries
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • HRH Amazon Store
  • RSS Feed

House of Lords – Cartesian Dreams (2009)

  • August 31, 2009
  • by Brian Basher
  • · CD Reviews A-H · Entertainment · Hard Rock Music · Hard Rock News · Music

HouseofLordsCartesianDreamsIs the sequel ever as good as the original? For House of Lords the answer is a resounding YES! After a “What the Hell Were They Thinking” moment that was the release of 2000’s “the Power & the Myth” James Christian said enough is enough, and with the blessing of founder Gregg Giuffria, put together a new lineup consisting of Jimi Bell (Guitars), BJ Zampa (Drums), and Chris McCarvill (Bass) and a return to the melodic sound House of Lords were known for. With the release of two very solid albums “World Upside Down” and “Come To My Kingdom” House of Lords were back at the forefront of the Melodic Rock world, but the release of the lineup’s third album “Cartesian Dreams” puts the band way ahead of the competition. If I could only use one word to describe the sound of “Cartesian Dreams” it would be heavy, by far the heaviest HoL album to date but still retaining HoL’s trademark melody and sound. James Christian’s voice still sounds fantastic and the band as a whole are tight and in sync with one another.

“Cartesian Dreams” starts out with a bang with the title track, and immediately gives us a taste of what we are in for with this release. Heavy, thumping, with nice keyboard fills and some outstanding background vocals Bell has an excellent solo but it is BJ Zampa that outshines everyone on this track with his drumming. “Born To Be Your Baby” follows up with a great sing a long chorus that will get stuck in your head and not let go. One of the catchiest tracks on the album that has single written all over it. “Desert Rain” is next in line and much like “Cartesian Dreams” is a heavy thumping song about the Iraq War, with the whole band sounding fantastic. On the American version “Sweet September” is the closest song you could call a ballad on this album and it is a great one with some nice background vocals and James Christian sounds amazing on this song. “Bangin'” is a great dirty rocker, which would make a great lead off single, a classic HoL song. At first listen you think “A Simple Plan” is a slow mid tempo number, but once Bell’s guitar kicks in, that changes your thinking completely, while it does stay in the mid tempo range it is anything but slow. Once again the band sounds outstanding on this song especially Bell and McCarvill.

The rest of “Cartesian Dreams” is filled with more heavy melodic rockers like “Saved By Rock”, “Repo Man” and the outstanding “Joanna” another song with single written all over it. If you get the European version look out for the song “the Train” a slow mid tempo song with some great lyrics and background vocals. Fans of HoL and Melodic Rock in general are going to find “Cartesian Dreams” to not only be the best release of HoL’s new Lineup but one of the best of the band’s entire career. Definitely a must have album.

Rating: 75vOut of 10

Track Listing:

01. Cartesian Dreams             pic1
02. Born To Be Your Baby
03. Desert Rain
04. Sweet September
05. Bangin’
06. A Simple Plan
07. Never Look Back
08. The Bigger They Come
09. Repo Man
10. Saved By Rock
11. Joanna
12. The Train (Bonus Track)

House of Lords are:

James Christian – vocals
Jimi Bell – guitars
BJ Zampa – drums
Chris McCarvill – bass

Rate this:

Related

BJ Zampa Cartesian Dreams Chris McCarvill House of Lords James Christian Jimi Bell
  • « Prev
  • Next »
Leave A Comment   ↓

Comments

  1. Lewis May 18, 2010 · Reply

    Best album of its genre i’ve ever heard
    If you like this try
    Khymera – A New Promise
    Giant – Promised Land
    Danger Danger – Revolve

  2. 71crash December 5, 2009 · Reply

    Bloody awesome c.d that one 🙂

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Google photo

You are commenting using your Google account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • RSS
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • Hard Rock Hideout
    • Join 6,375 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Hard Rock Hideout
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Copy shortlink
    • Report this content
    • View post in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...