Australian metal band, Lord, have just hit #7 on the Australian Album ARIA charts with their latest album, Undercovers Vol.1, a collection of 23 cover songs released just 10 days ago exclusively on Bandcamp. They've also just hit #54 on the National Charts as well as #1 on the AIR (Australian Independent Record Labels Association) charts.

Naturally, Lord bassist, Andy Dowling, says that the band are stoked with the achievement, but being largely DIY, they haven’t had a chance to pause to smell the roses as of yet. 

“Honestly, the first thought I had was, ‘Ok, now the real work kicks in!’ Of course, I was blown away with the news but the PR/marketing part of me instantly kicked in, which is always exciting. There’s a lot of great things you can do with an opportunity like this, so for the foreseeable future I will dive into that and then let it all sink in later over a few beers.”

The album, which features both reimagined metal versions of pop songs as well as a bunch of 80s rock/metal tracks that have been ‘Lordified,’ had a limited run of CDs made, with many merch bundles already sold out.  

When asked what his favourite track is (and whether it was the one he sang lead vocals on, (I Just) Died in Your Arms (originally by Cutting Crew), Dowling laughs, “Haha yeah of course it’s the one I sing on! I totally have to take advantage of the spotlight while it’s on me. Putting aside my over-inflated ego, I think our Real Life cover of Send Me An Angel has been a real dark horse for me personally. It’s only been recent that it has clicked in a new way and I just absolutely love listening back to it. The guitar/sections before it kicks into the last chorus are just tops! 

For the non-pop covers, our new cover of Judas Priest’s Reckless is a lot of fun. One of Priest’s underrated songs from the Turbo album that was almost in the Top Gun movie. Maybe we should film our own Top Gun inspired video clip for it?”

The band have played around with covers for years, many of them ending up as bonus tracks on their original albums.  But on the decision to make a full-length record of cover tunes, Dowling explains that they’ve always found cover songs a good way to introduce new people to the band.  They’re also pretty keen to do more covers albums in future.

“Over the years it has become harder and harder to track some of these songs down, so we thought it would be cool to gather all of these tracks in a large compilation and have them in a central spot. We also decided to record some new ones to include and call it ‘Vol.1’ because we know there will definitely be more covers in the future. With the happenings of 2020 throwing everyone a real curveball, we decided it’s a great time to get this release out while we continue to work on a follow up to our 2019 album, Fallen Idols.”

Speaking of, this isn’t the first time Lord have hit the Australian Album Charts. Their 5th studio album, Fallen Idols, hit the same chart at #20 and also the Australian Independent Music Charts at #2 in 2019.  

When asked what’s next for the three-piece, it’s uncertain at this stage whether they’ll hit the road again in the near future.  

“Touring and shows are not in our immediate future. We had planned to not look at playing again until 2022 but we’ll see. Our last show on stage was July 2019 and while I can’t talk on behalf of the other guys, I am really itching to get back out ASAP. Irrespective of when that will happen, we will just want to make sure we do it right and on our own terms. 

Shows aside, we will extend our campaign with Undercovers Vol.1 with some more promotional activities, more merch and see what else we can do to celebrate this fun release. We are still writing music for the next studio album and with the way the momentum is rolling at the moment, we might have to get in and start recording that sooner rather than later. Lots of ideas and plans in the works. After all of these years together, it’s exciting to see the band getting this type of recognition and it's certainly inspiring the next chapter of what we do.”

One thing we love about Lord is their dedication to their fans, or as they like to call them, “friends.”

“It’s all cliché stuff but without our friends (aka fans) who bought the album, whether it be the digital release or limited edition CD, we would not be staring at a #7 debut in the ARIA charts. We are completely independent, doing everything ourselves. We have no big PR budget or large label pushing us. This is all 110% people power. We are honoured and humbled with so many people continuing to back what we do after so many years.  Time to work on that next album and keep this whole thing rolling.”

Check out track 1 off the album To The Moon and Back, which even caught the attention of Savage Garden vocalist, Darren Hayes who tweeted: “OK - this is fucking great haha!  There exists a corner of the internet where heavy metal and believe it or not 'savage garden' fans intersect, and rock band Lord have nailed it.”

Another pop-number by another Aussie icon, Kylie Monogue, ‘On a Night Like This,’ (originally released in 2010).

Grab the full 23-track album on Bandcamp via Dominus Records here which also features a bunch of bonus narrative tracks that introduce the track to follow.

A limited track listing is also available via Apple Music, Spotify and other streaming platforms.

Listen to Lord here.