The Arockalypse

On their breakthrough record, Eurovision’s most unlikely winners took GWAR’s costumed creep shtick and made it palatable for an ABBA audience. They also — sorry Oderus — know how to write better pop songs. Mr. Lordi’s tongue-in-cheek horror lyrics get pretty cheeky at times but it’s a PG-13 experience for sure. Influenced by gods of metal past — Priest, Accept, KISS — he and his monstrous collaborators knock out big power chord riffs and bigger singalong choruses on irresistible anthems like “Bringing Back the Balls to Rock,” “The Kids Who Wanna Play With the Dead,” and, of course, “Hard Rock Hallelujah.” It’s basically hair metal except the hair is fur and scales. Ain’t nothing wrong with that.