Germany’s Lord of the Lost have ceremoniously unfurled the finale of their monumental 33-song OPVS NOIR trilogy. Vol. 3, out April 10 via Napalm Records, proves a stunning addition to the powerhouse’s intensely rewarding catalog. Granted, Lord of the Lost’s frontman, Chris Harms, clarifies, “We view the trilogy as one album.”
OPVS NOIR Vol. 3, like the two chapters that precede it, impresses listeners with its immersive cinematic soundscapes. Harms states, “We try to create a movie for the ears. When I listen to OPVS NOIR and I close my eyes, I see lots of pictures. There are lots of things going on—stories and colors—whereas the Blood & Glitter (2022) record was more in-your-face, more direct in speech, more political, more about daily-life problems. And for me, OPVS NOIR is more like a dream world.” Harms confirms that he took great pleasure in working on the videos and other visual components for OPVS NOIR.
On Vol. 3, Lord of the Lost continue their tradition of presenting audiences with remarkable variety and multi-faceted compositions. Harms comments, “I love to combine things that, upon first glance, might not fit together. For example, from the outside, ‘I Hate People’ is a party banger, but when you check out the lyrics, it’s not just a goth stereotype. ‘I Hate People’ is actually a very socially critical song about open-mindedness. People can just freak out in front of the stage and scream, ‘I hate people’ to this weird electro-metal track, and that might be relieving. But they can also listen to the story behind it. So, even our party songs have a deeper second level, which you can appreciate as well.” The celebrated Wednesday 13, one of the trilogy’s many guests, makes a memorable appearance on the named scorcher.
“I Hate People” contains the line “We never ever have to pick a side,” which might remind some followers of Lord of the Lost’s 2022 musical response to the ongoing war in Ukraine—the refreshingly sane and compassionate “Not My Enemy.” Harms addresses the similarity, “The idea of not picking sides in ‘Not My Enemy’ is on a different level. There, it was about everybody putting pressure on each other to instantly decide on what’s good or evil with all the social media. On TikTok LIVE, people have to decide after 15 seconds if they like something or not. It doesn’t matter if it’s Russia and Ukraine, or Gaza and Israel, or now Iran and the USA. Of course, everybody is entitled to their own opinion and strong point of view, but sometimes these things take time to research, to think about, to get more information on. Sometimes, maybe there’s not even a good and a bad side; maybe sometimes there’s two bad sides. So, ‘Not My Enemy’ was meant to say, ‘Hey, you, as a human being, wherever you come from, just because you were born within these borders, which you did not choose, that doesn’t mean that you’re my enemy. You were not made by your government.’”
He continues, “About the line in the ‘I Hate People’ song, this is more about our personal well-being. It’s about feeling that you don’t have to choose what kind of human being you are every day. It’s about subcultures and scenes, all these things—like, ‘Are you this, or are you that?’ People always try to put others in boxes. This always happens to me and also Lord of the Lost. People always ask, ‘Are you a goth band or a metal band?’ I’m like, ‘Do I have to choose? Can I just be a singer in a band? And do I have to give this whole thing a name?’”
Throughout OPVS NOIR, Harms, as expected given his track record, delivers powerful and emotive performances. This master of both harsh and clean vocals provides insight into his process. “When I’m recording vocals, I don’t do more than one song a day. I could do more a day—My voice is fit enough for that, but for the sake of the passion of the song itself, it’s better if I just do one. So, I always go to the studio very early in the morning, and it takes me maybe one to three hours for a song; then I work on something else for the rest of the day. And the next day, I come back and sing the next song. So, it isn’t vocally challenging, actually, but I’m trying to keep it fun because it can be mentally challenging. If I had to sing four songs a day, and I had to do that for more than one week, then I would be mentally exhausted and wouldn’t have fun singing—I think you would hear that on a record.”
Harms shares, “What I really enjoy is that we and our fans have a chance to keep OPVS NOIR alive—that we really can live the feeling of this record and bring it on tour.” The charismatic Lord of the Lost are known to put on fantastic live performances. Harms reveals, “The most challenging thing about shows for me is always the overall dynamic of a setlist—You shouldn’t do a party song and a sad ballad back-to-back all the time. If the emotional changes are too quick, a setlist might feel like a weird compilation of many bands.” Harms compares the art of curating the perfect setlist to that of nailing the dramatic flow of a movie, “You know, the tension rises, and then there’s a calmer part. Then, the action sequence begins, and so on.” Of course, while on the road, spontaneous songwriting ideas, such as guitar and synthesizer melodies, can occur to Harms. If this happens on the bus, he usually records his voice because he might not have an instrument at hand.
Lord of the Lost have always maintained a strong and loyal fanbase. However, their popularity has truly exploded in recent years, bringing them face-to-face with the likes of King Charles III in 2023. Harms reflects, “We never made any decisions just to grow fast. We’ve always made every decision based on what feels right to us, and I wouldn’t change a thing. We didn’t change anything for Eurovision. The ‘Blood & Glitter’ concept for the song, album, and visuals was conceived before we decided to do Eurovision. It was not made for Eurovision. When we look back now on the things we have done, we are always happy. We never have to be embarrassed about anything because we never lied to ourselves, and I think that’s very important.” Verily, it took strength to resist input from external sources. Harms acknowledges, “We always had these business experts telling us, ‘Hey, maybe you should do this or that, and change your logo, your image, or maybe just stick to one genre all the time.’”
It does seem a shame that not all of Lord of the Lost’s gems have received the same level of recognition; their body of work is filled with so many irresistible deep cuts. Harms, however, is content with the internal benefits of creating. “We do have these things that we’d like to be more popular, but maybe they don’t have to be. Maybe they’re just for us, and that’s fine.” He kindly names one of the tracks that, despite being underrated, holds the most significance to him, “There’s this song we did a long time ago (and initially released in 2012) called ‘Letters to Home.’ It’s nearly 20 minutes long, and it’s about a soldier who has to leave home after his first child is born to fight for his country. He dies on the battlefield, but he doesn’t realize he’s dead until his soul is back home.”
Harms expresses that he’s extremely satisfied with his label, the revered Napalm Records. “We have full artistic freedom. If our next record is gangster rap, ’90s happy hardcore electro, black metal, or everything at the same time, we can do that. There’s no one in control but us, and Napalm trusts us and believes in us. We have the support to do whatever we want, and that is the best an artist could ask of a music label.”
OPVS NOIR Vol. 3 is out Friday and you can preorder it from Napalm Records. Follow Lord of the Lost on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and Twitch for future updates.
