Lord Fist-Wordless Wisdom of Lord Fist

Ektro
2013

Finland's Lord First were formed in the autumn of 2011 and have both a 4-track, 2012 demo ("Spark for the Night") to their name as well as this upcoming 4-track EP. Two four-track recordings from a four-piece band? Seems a tad odd, but never mind that as there are more important matters at hand here. Even though this group features two former members of the (on-hold) black metal band Faustian Pact (bassist Pekka Lampinen and drummer Eetu Orbinski ) this band embraces heavy metal in it's most pure and primitive form.
Then again, it does seem as if more and more we are hearing about these rock n' roll/heavy metal side-projects from black metal musicians so maybe it's some new trend or maybe it's just that these musicians, and everyone else for that matter, understands real power that rock and heavy metal holds? Either way it is you and I who end up as the real winners here as anytime we get new bands like Lord First, who are said to be here to "usher in the New Wave of Great Heavy Metal with their debut EP, "Wordless Wisdom of Lord Fist",  it's all good! You can pretty much just call their brand of heavy metal "retro" if you want as these 4-cuts are straight out of the eighties. With Perttu Koivunen on lead vocals and guitar, the group's retro sound is just about evenly matched with the band's retro production job. It's not rough or anything, it's just kind of "rustic". It's a bit of a toss up though if the band's raw style is good or bad, exciting and fresh or terribly stale. There's a real underground sensation to this EP for sure and it does feel like a long-lost piece of vinyl that someone found while cleaning out the backroom of record store. Niko Kolehmainen, who handles addition guitar duties, and Perttu Koivunen are both fine at what they do as is the rhythm section of Pekka and Eetu. So, that's no complaint. But, in a way this EP reminds me of the period in time (maybe 25 years or so ago?) when the N.W.O.B.H.M. scene got a well-deserved second glance. Suddenly everyone one and their mother was snapping up anything and everything that was even remotely tied to the movement. During that time record collectors were dealt some unfair hands as scrupulous dealers starting slapping the N.W.O.B.H.M. tag on anything they could find to justify high prices. While a band like Lord First would be regarded as more faithful to the movement and worthy of being called a N.W.O.B.H.M. band that doesn't mean that you'd want to throw hundreds of dollars at the rare recording this just might be. Instead, this would be an EP worth tracking down if it could be had at a fair price. In fairness these four are defiantly above average in their concept and delivery of true heavy metal, but it's more like one of those albums where it's good but not great. Still, I did enjoy this EP and played it a few times through. And more so I can't help but feel that Lord Fist could easily jump from decent to down right essential with just a little bit of polish and a fell tweaks here and there.