Lord Of The Lost – Opvs Noir Vol. 3
Lord Of The Lost – Opvs Noir Vol. 3
Napalm Records
Release Date: 10/04/26
Review by Jon Deaux
Score 8.5/10
because the trilogy genuinely sounds extraordinary, and because anything lower would be dishonest, and Baudelaire would haunt me.
There is, of course, the particular kind of madness – the productive kind, the kind that makes cathedrals and, occasionally, burns them down – that infects certain bands in the most stylish way imaginable. Lord Of The Lost have had this kind of madness from the very beginning. Opvs Noir Vol. 3 is the point where they stop pretending that this is all just a hobby and look you dead in the eye and tell you, in the most relaxed way imaginable, that they are not going to stop now, and indeed, have no intention of doing so anytime soon.
So, the state of affairs is as follows: the most over-achieving six-piece band from Hamburg have just finished their magnum opus, an album that is, in fact, the third part of a trilogy, released over the course of 2025 and 2026. It is, in other words, an enormous work, and the most German thing imaginable, or the most dramatic, or the most German and dramatic, and that is, in essence, the Lord Of The Lost promise. They are the very same band that decided to represent Germany in the 2023 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest with the song ‘Blood & Glitter’ went to Turin in fishnets, returned home with the number one, and immediately got down to writing an album about darkness and death and the French Romantics. The only appropriate reaction is reverence.
Vol. 3, described in the press materials as “the most out of the box of the three,” a phrase that would be a threat from most bands and is simply true from Lord Of The Lost, starts off with ‘Kill The Lights,’ which starts off with cello.Cello! In 2026! With this level of success! Chris Harms and his crew are certainly not easing you into things, and are instead choosing to start off with a minor-key stringed instrument and daring you to complain about it. You don’t.
Next up is ‘I’m A Diamond,’ featuring Alea from Saltatio Mortis, a man whose actual job is Medieval Metal and actual hurdy-gurdy, and this is actually not the weirdest artistic choice on this album. Alea is a good sport, and a very compelling vocalist, and the song itself is the kind of happy, reassuring song that has no business appearing after a cello opening and before a song literally called “My Funeral.” Lord Of The Lost have apparently developed a full immunity to logic.
‘My Funeral’ is where they present their manifesto, and they do so in the most polite way possible. Black is a happy colour. Wear pink to their funeral. It’s tongue-in-cheek, like a really good Hammer Horror film – a bit like when the Count comes down the stairs in one of those films, and they wink at the audience. The near-gothic soundscapes are expanded here, and if you’ve ever thought about what you’d wear to your own funeral, then this is your soundtrack.
“The Shadows Within” has a symphonic weight to it, and so, structurally, it sounds like a much bigger piece than its three and a half minutes – a piece that needs a huge room with dodgy lighting to play in. ‘La Vie Est Hell,’ with Hannes Braun from Kissin’ Dynamite, and described, poignantly, in the PR blurb, as “the parting frontman appearance,” draws on Baudelaire’s ‘Les Fleurs du mal’. It’s partly in French, and partly bombastic, and it’s all perfect, and we really do need to stop Metal bands from referencing Symbolism, and we really do need to stop them referencing Baudelaire, and we really do…
‘When Did The Love Break?’ is a track featuring Ambre Vourvahis of Xandria, and, against all odds and everything surrounding this track on the tracklist, this is the most emotionally honest track on the album. The whimsical voice of Vourvahis next to the bottomless baritone of Harms is a pairing that shouldn’t work on paper and does work on the album. It is a lost love song that is performed at funerals that, according to track three, are actually quite festive affairs.
‘Take Me Far Away,’ featuring Damien Edwards of the magnificently named Cats In Space, is straight-up Glam Rock with a gothic trenchcoat on, and this is actually a very sensible move if you’ve listened to the album straight through and utterly insane if you just happened to drop into this track at random. This is the problem and the greatest strength of Lord Of The Lost, and the problem is that you can’t really pick and choose without getting lost to it.
And then Wednesday 13 shows up for ‘I Hate People,’ and the temperature plummets, and for the first time, everything is just right. An industrial duet about equality dressed up as a Horror Punk romp, and the pairing of Harms’ cinematic baritone and Wednesday 13’s delightfully insane growls is something that, if the music industry worked this well even a fraction as often as this, would make one think that the universe itself was a benevolent place. They are singing, at industrial levels, about hating everyone equally, regardless of race, religion, or any other such designation. It is politically correct and utterly fun, and this is the song that plays in the nightmare that you’re having a great time.
‘The Days Of Our Lives’ closes out the trilogy, rather than opening it or getting things going, with something more measured, something grandiose, something fully orchestral, something that almost sounds like a goodbye from people who know exactly what they’re saying goodbye with. Exactly what it is, nobody’s saying. The press release tells us that this is “the closest Lord Of The Lost have ever been to a cinematic soundtrack” and, rather menacingly, adds that “the happy ending is skipped.” These are Germans who went to Eurovision wearing fishnets. Nothing they do is ever arbitrary.
Taken together — and you must take the three volumes together, even if it takes an hour or two of your afternoon and forces you to cancel something social, which frankly, you probably should be cancelling anyway — the Opvs Noir trilogy is a thing. A real thing. A real artistic statement from a real band that refuses to be classified. Heavy guitars. Actual orchestral sensibilities. Eurovision credentials. Wednesday 13. Dead French poet. Hamburg. None of this should stick. All of it does.
The guest list is part of the appeal. These are no demographic studies, no label-driven efforts to connect with the greatest number of people. The medieval metal singer. The horror punk icon. The Xandria soprano. The departing Kissin’ Dynamite lead singer. The Cats In Space glam rocker. They’re all part of the story. Even when the description of each one sounds like the punchline to some very specific joke at some very specific party.
One of the most interesting Dark Rock outfits currently active on the dark side of the European Rock scene, Lord Of The Lost are, with Opvs Noir Vol. 3, releasing what is arguably the most ambitious album of the lot so far. Made on their own terms, in full, with cello and industrial drums and references to Baudelaire and a guest list that defies easy description, it sounds like nothing else out this year. That’s not a small claim. That’s everything.
Wear black. Or pink, as the case may be. Just listen.
TRACKLISTNG:
01. Kill The Lights
02. I’m A Diamond (feat. Alea)
03. My Funeral
04. I Hate People (feat. Wednesday 13)
05. The Shadows Within
06. La Vie Est Hell (feat. Hannes Braun)
07. Square One
08. When Did The Love Break_ (feat. Ambre Vourvahis)
09. Your Love Is Colder Than Death
10. Take Me Far Away (feat. Damien Edwards)
11. The Days Of Our Lives
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