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“You know, the funny thing about it is, we did not plan a trilogy. We just wanted to write a normal album.”

When it comes to Lord of the Lost, though, the extraordinary is never far away. It’s embedded in them at this point, and it’s what has allowed them to go from Germany’s best-kept secret to one of rock’s most fantastically fun bands over the last few years. And as Chris Harms talks to Rock Sound whilst out on the road, making their way across Europe on a touring schedule that has seen them perform in no less than 45 countries over the course of the ‘OPVS NOIR’ project, he is as proud of what they have achieved as he is reflective of just how much of an undertaking it has been. But even more so, he is conscious of just how much has changed for him over the release of these three records, given that all the songs were written at the same time.

“We just ended up with so many songs that we didn’t want to throw any of them away,” he laughs. “That’s why it feels like one album to us, at least. It’s not like we did ‘Part One’, finished, and then started ‘Part Two’. It’s hard to say whether I perceive this third part differently just because it is coming out so much later, but I do feel as though there is something within the songs we chose to put here.

“If you want to introduce a superhero, then first you want to cook out the essence. You want to show how the hero evolves through all their side stories, and then conclude with some hopefulness or even a cliffhanger. With these albums, we started very dark and then opened up the world a little into some light.”

And in closing out this ambitious period of their career with ‘Vol. 3’, they are in one of the most exciting and audacious positions that they have ever been in. A collection of songs that encourages you to be exactly who you want to be, no matter what the rest of the world tells you, it is an audacious, fantastical, irresistibly catchy curtain call, one that will serve as inspiration, motivation and solace for so many souls, no matter what corner of the globe they are listening from.

THE SOUND

When you’re penning 33 songs for a project, the opportunity to do things differently is right there in front of you. And when it comes to ‘OPVS NOIR’, there are moments that Chris knows he wouldn’t have committed to tape in any other circumstance. But in daring to be experimental, the band have ended up showing off every single shade of black that Lord of the Lost can muster. And if they were forcing themselves to pick and choose just a small selection from that bunch, they would be limiting just how much of who they are they are willing to share.

“There are definitely some things on here that would have been thrown away if this weren’t a trilogy,” Chris admits. “But now, after all these successes with the Number One record and Eurovision and playing with Iron Maiden twice and so on, maybe we dared to just be a little more playful here and there. We never really gave a fuck. But maybe we now know we even give less, and that’s a good thing for staying authentic.”

It’s a good point. Because when you start to achieve the sort of things that can very easily just stay as dreams by being unapologetically yourself, then why wouldn’t you keep on pushing? It’s that sort of stance that has allowed the band to create the likes of ‘My Funeral’, cloaked in orchestral brightness, alongside ‘Square One’, which embodies the frosty ambience of goth beautifully. There’s the Transylvanian party-starter that is ‘The Shadows Within’ rubbing shoulders with the grandiose balladry of ‘The Days Of Our Lives’ and not sounding out of place or obtuse.

It all comes from marching to whatever beat feels right, and delivering each song with the same sincerity, sensationalism and deep-set heart and soul as the last. For Chris, variety is the spice of life, and he indulges in the opportunity to go against whatever grain people want to line them up against.

“I always have to laugh being in this alternative music scene, especially when it comes to metal and goth, where people want you to be real or true, and they tell you are telling you how to be real and true. ‘Listen, if you want to be true, you should do this’. And I’m like, ‘It doesn’t work that way. You’re not true if you’re following someone else’s dogma. We believe that not giving a fuck about what the fans want actually means respecting them the most, because they’re getting the most authentic version of us.”

THE COLLABORATORS

In making their way around the world in the manner they have, Lord of the Lost have come into contact with so many different cultures, cultures different from their own. And what better way to celebrate the things that you have seen and learnt from others than working with them on music, the one thing that truly connects us all.

And to look at the guests that the band have pulled together for this record, it’s clear how much they enjoy allowing other sounds to shape their own. From Andre Vourvahis of Greek symphonic metal greats Xandria delivering icy cold feeling on ‘When Did The Love Break’ to Aela of German medieval metal heads Saltatio Mortis bringing the pomp and sparkle on ‘I’m A Diamond’, it’s as much a celebration of how vast and varied the heavy music scene is as it is a chance to spread the gospel of bands that Chris loves and respects. Oh, and that’s before we mention the legendary Wednesday 13, who brings their own unique brand of grin-inducing malice to ‘I Hate People’.

“To me, it really means a lot that you feel you’re being recognised by people you have listened to half of your lifetime,” Chris smiles. “So, it’s earning this respect back. And actually, when some of these people say,  Hey, I listen to your stuff’ or ‘I saw your show, and I got so inspired, I went home and wrote a song’ that’s a crazy feeling. It’s nice to have a chance to actually pick so many great people, and you find yourself in the middle of collaborating with them but also being a little bit starstruck at the same time.”

It’s a reminder that behind the drama and decadence, even your favourite band is still just as passionate a lover of music as you are. That doesn’t go away when you put your make-up on to play a show to thousands of people. It’s a trait that allows Lord of the Lost to not just stay grounded but to remember to do things that would leave the younger versions of themselves gobsmacked. Because if you’re not serving the part of yourself that helped you to fall head over heels with this in the first place, then you’re already doing yourself a great disservice.

It’s within this that Chris also felt like they had the opportunity to give back and offer young bands the chance to be a part of something that they probably wouldn’t get to otherwise. Which is why he put out a call for anyone who fancied singing a song with them. Receiving over 1000 replies, they ended up choosing two. One appears on ‘Vol. 1’ in the form of ‘The Sadness In Everything’, which features Anna Marie Rose of Tales of Time, and the other is right here on ‘Take Me Far Away’, which features Damien Edwards of Cats In Space.

“We didn’t know their bands, we didn’t know they existed, we didn’t know their voices. But it allowed us to take a different approach and create something beautiful. The magic of collaboration is out there in ways that we hadn’t even imagined yet. And that felt really nice to make happen.”

THE LYRICS

Though on the surface, ‘OPVS NOIR’ looks and feels like a project more than happy to sit in the abyss, the final result is so far from that. But to be honest, Chris’ interpretation of darkness has shifted at the same pace as Lord of the Lost has adapted and expanded, with every move they have made bringing them to a place where positivity, belief in oneself, and the expression of the highest order are paramount. That sometimes those shades of black have plenty of speckles of glitter and gold in them.

“I learned very early on in the process that darkness, especially the darkness inside ourselves, is not always just a negative thing,” Chris muses. “We were astonished by how many different feelings topics you can touch on within this universe, within yourself. If you’re wired the way I am, the dark can actually be a happy place for you, and that’s how we have ended up with an album all about that happiness, affirmation, and self-acceptance.

“We went through all of these dark places to discover what that meant, tried to put it into words and tried to make something that will help us as well as help other people accept themselves. We opened up, and we have ended up with quite a positive record.”

And that positivity always shines through, no matter how it may seem like it on the surface. ‘My Funeral’ is less about mourning and more about celebration, ‘When Did The Love Break’ is less about heartache and more about knowing things are changing for the better. And ‘I’m A Diamond’ is the sort of song that will be used as words of encouragement to reflections in mirrors for many a year to come.

Now, it’s clear that it’s been a long road for Chris to reach this place of completely surrendering to everything that he is and has become. But the truth is that it would have been very easy for the band to carry on down the same path they had become established for, especially after the success that their appearance on Eurovision allowed. And even though ‘Blood & Glitter’ was a song and a concept already imagined before they presented it to millions of people around the world, it still takes a lot to stand there and stand out in the way that the band did.

And, of course, success does give you the sense that you have done everything that you can. That you have found your place in this world and that continuing down that path, emotionally as well as sonically. But to keep on searching, keep on testing yourself, keep on questioning who and what you want to be, that’s a vital part of being human. And to create art that doesn’t move in the same manner would be a disservice to everything that the band have worked so hard to claim.

“Everybody thinks that was a song or record conceived to be a Eurovision record,” Chris states. “It became one, but it wasn’t meant to be. But with the success that came, and it being one of the strongest peaks of our career, we had all these experts who didn’t understand why we went back to the darkness. They were like, ‘Hey, keep going that way. It was so successful’, and we were like, ‘Yeah, but we don’t feel that way.’ We always need this dynamic. It’s a bit like a rubber band; when you stretch it for a while, you will always eventually get pulled back in. We felt super comfortable within ‘Blood & Glitter’, but it was a journey, and we realised we needed to go home at some point and find new things for our next journey. This is just how we are, and what we find will always be interesting because of that.”

THE ARTWORK

For a long time, Chris had a vision of a key in his mind when it came to plotting the ‘OPVS NOIR’ trilogy from an artistic standpoint. That key served as the accompaniment to ‘Vol. 1’, which was then joined by a lock on ‘Vol. 2’. For ‘Vol. 03’, it was a case of raising the stakes and expanding on those two objects, with the final part’s artwork being defined by a large gate. On the surface, it looks like a doorway into the unknown, symbolising that you’ve made it this far, so why wouldn’t you take the chance to see what’s on the other side?

But look a little closer, and the darkness may be a bit more familiar than you think.

“I really liked the idea of the key, because a key can mean you’re opening a door to a great place, or it can mean you’re closing that door to somewhere, or you’re being closed in by someone,” Chris explains. “From wondering what was going to happen with that key, the doorway or gate felt obvious.

“Though what I like is that in the background of the gate, you can see our heart symbol, which is the first logo we ever had. So it’s a little bit like, ‘Is this your gate? Are you coming back home?’ And it’s interesting because I’ve seen people saying, ‘Oh, Lord of the Lost are going back to their roots’. It’s not our roots, but it’s the same tree. We are sitting in the branches looking down at where we have been, with a bird’s eye perspective of everything that we have done.”

To return to one’s roots is to also return to old ways of thinking as well as ways of creating. And Chris is happier than he has ever been, in how he is able to present himself and his band, right here and right now. So why return to something just because?

“Not that I’m ashamed of how I felt back then, but I’m happy that I’m a different person now. I’m super comfortable how I am right now.”

THE FUTURE

As this trilogy comes to an end, in tandem with the current tour Lord of the Lost have been on, the intention now is to slow down a little. Recoup, reconfigure and relax. But just because they are taking a break from the stage doesn’t mean that the cogs aren’t already turning on what is coming next, and Chris is eager to hammer that home.

“This is not a band break,” he states with intention. “We already know roughly where we want to go. We haven’t really put it in words, but there is a working title, some pictures and a rough time plan. We know what we want to do.”

But within those glimmers of what is coming next, the truth is that the effects brought on by the ‘OBVS NOIR’ trilogy – what they have achieved, what it has taught them, what it has shown them about themselves – are still ongoing. And that’s a wonderful position to be in. The fact that such an undertaking of passion and purpose is going to play its part for a long time to come.

“When the medieval period ended, people weren’t going, ‘Yay, it’s the Renaissance’ at one minute past midnight on January 01, 1501,” he jokes in conclusion. “So it will take time for us to look back and call this any sort of renaissance. But I feel like already ‘OPVS NOIR’ shows the essence of where we are emotionally. It feels like an anchor. So wherever we go from here, it might become the safest place for us to go back to. We just don’t know yet.”