Lordian Guard

The seven trumpets, seven natural disaster themed horrors described in the strange fables of the Book of Revelation (CE 81–96), that end the Christian bible are perhaps the most thrilling descriptions of destruction available to the Roman Empire up to that point. Blood oceans, poisoned rivers, and torturous scorpion-tailed centaurs with lion’s teeth all made for fine horror and revenge for the supposed banishment of ‘John’ to the Greek isle of Patmos by then emperor Domitian. Wherever the traditions of the oft mangled and re-scripted New Testament are lies aren’t important. The apocalypse as envisioned is an incredible piece of visual storytelling and perhaps the most influential piece of writing that would ensure the self-extinction of mankind would be accelerated dramatically during the holocene era. What appeared as the end of Warlord after struggling for years to find a consistent vocalist found talented multi-instrumentalist William Tsamis moving to Florida, finding Christianity, and founding Lordian Winds around 1986. This project came as accompaniment to the development of My Name is Man, a Christian apocalypse themed film by Tsamis that would never come to fruition due to lack of outside interest.

The songwriting talents inherent to the development of Warlord as epic heavy metal legend still persisted within Lordian Winds. The mixture of folkish acoustic guitars, shredding epic heavy metal leads, and arabesque cinematic arrangements were initially developed as ideas for a second Warlord album and as soundtrack concepts for My Name Is Man (the album). The pitch for either Lordian Guard album is a delicate subject to approach because for many reactive metal listeners the only possible selling points come from the presence and mastermind of Tsamis, a true legend of the United States development of power metal and epic heavy metal style in the early 80’s. What barriers to entry are so prominent that I need a disclaimer? Tsamis performs all instruments on the recording and chose to use a drum machine for ‘Lordian Guard’. The lyrics are incredibly pious approaches to the Christian vision of the apocalypse that is oddly interspersed with the themes of My Name is Man, which was an elaborate take on John Milton’s epic Paradise Lost. So, epic Christian symphonic heavy metal with a bad drum machine and female vocals? Why am I even writing about this? It is better than you might think and anything by Tsamis is worthy of an epic heavy metal fan’s time.

If you search out the Lordian Winds demos, which are also available on the anthology release for the band circa 2013, the most striking performance of those tapes came in the form of Tsamis‘ wife Vidonne Sayre-Riemenschneider (RIP) who provided vocals for the project. As a vocalist she did not wail but rather had a sort of narrative, folk rock approach with a timbre somewhere between classic Stevie Nicks and and the cadence of Mark Shelton ballad. As much as Tsamis‘ guitar work makes the experience palatable, Sayre-Riemenschneider’s sweeping vocal harmonies lent a professional and uniquely folkish flair to the album. At least to the point that you’ll be able to forgive the awful drum machine. Of course this type of thing wasn’t conceptually without compare in the mid-90’s but largely within hidden power metal scenes. In terms of mood and cadence Longings Past came close to this sound but were far more driven by 80’s heavy metal riffing rather than the folkish prog rock structures of Lordian Guard.

As disturbing as I find Christian themes in general (“In Peace He Comes Again” is literally a Christmas song…) there is some value in Lordian Guard for both Warlord fandom as well as folks who wish to explore the life of epic heavy metal within the 90’s as many of the late 70’s/early 80’s pioneers faded away quietly. Don’t come in expecting a true follow-up to ‘And the Cannons of Destruction Have Begun…’ but rather a ‘best of’ from a decade of working on an opus that was never realized. Though this project would eventually peter out leaving an unreleased third album in the dirt, Warlord would return (and then subsequently dissolve, then return again a decade later) and pick up on some of the ideas developed within Lordian Guard. Though there are many caveats to be made for the album’s themes and sound quality issues it is still a worthy enough piece of epic heavy metal history for the dedicated fan.

Attribution: https://grizzlybutts.com/2018/11/27/retro-tuesdays-lordian-guard-lordian-guard-1995/

When I listen to the music of Lordian Guard I feel a bit confused. I admire W. Tsamis for his ability to create remarkable tracks which is apparent there. This album contains excellent epic compositions with splendid christian lyrics, talking about the battle between good and evil. It is inspired by classic literature (Milton’s “Lost Paradise”), the Apocalypse and also mythology. Their music is mostly keyboards-based, less heavy than that of other bands of epic metal and full of optimistic light.

However, Tsamis’ ego seems to rule, with negative results to this album. He tries to do everything. Why? What does he want to prove? He’s an excellent composer, good lyricist and capable guitarist. So, why to play bass and keyboards too? Does he think that he’s god? I’m sure that if he could sing and play drums as well he would do it also there, creating the first metal band with... only one member! Unfortunately, although he’s not tragic as a keyboard player, he is not exceptional too. He’s only well-desciplined.

The other members of the band seem to have the same sense of descipline, but also with nothing more to give. The sound of the drums is like that of... a drum machine and the singer is audible, but without having the necessary greatness for that kind of music. So, I can’t listen to this album without wondering how brilliant it would be, if Tsamis was more careful selecting his fellows or considering his role to the group.

I don’t want to be misunderstood. This album is not bad. It’s a quite good album of “christian metal”, proving that metal musicians are not... followers of king Lucifer as many, ignorant of what this music represents, say. I strongly believe that every track is worthy there and, certainly, that album contains no fillers. The musicians are also good technically and I only complain for lack of emotion, not ability. However, sometimes there is a thin line between a mere good album and a masterpiece. W. Tsamis showed that he could reach a very high level, but he was entrapped by his own search for perfection: Sometimes precision and dexterity are not enough...