did u catch this year's eurovision song contest?
have u seen the winners, finnish 'melodic hard rock' group, lordi?
this band of 'horror/monster rock' gents, dressed in costumes which would fit in well on an iron maiden album cover (for example), have won eurovision MMVI with their song 'hard rock hallelujah'.
lordi (also the name of their lead singer) originally hail from arctic lapland and over the past 5 years have risen to some prominence with albums entitled 'get heavy', 'the monsterican dream', and 'the arockalypse' (i partiuclarly like that last title).
surely there can be no dispute that lordi are, in many ways, something like the KISS of the current decade (albeit on a smaller commercial scale, at least to date). and like KISS, lordi have been implicated in perpetuating satanism and the like; although they perhaps quashed this hypothesis to some extent via their hit (in finland) single 'devil is a loser'. nonetheless there are no doubt other influences - e.g. some of the costumes have something of a masters of the universe - or perhaps valhalla-with-a-dash-of-thriller - aesthetic.
for now i'll leave the final word to lordi's lead singer, lordi:
“We have the same aesthetic as horror films. The scarier the film, the more fun it is. And rock music should be all about fun.”

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