Lord of the Lost

Biography

Lord of the Lost is a German rock band from Hamburg, formed by singer and frontman Chris Harms. They represented Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 with the song "Blood & Glitter×Blood & Glitter30 December 2022 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube MusicTracklist · 25 tracks · 2 discsDisc 11Blood & Glitter2:592Leave Your Hate in the Comments4:243Absolute Attitude3:314The Future of a Past Life3:255No Respect for Disrespect4:026Reset the Preset3:417Destruction Manual3:568Dead End3:559Leaving the Planet Earth4:4710Forever Lost4:3111Save Our Souls3:5312One Last Song4:0813The Look4:11Disc 21Blood & Glitter (instrumental)2:592Leave Your Hate in the Comments (instrumental)4:243Absolute Attitude (instrumental)3:324The Future of a Past Life (instrumental)3:255No Respect for Disrespect (instrumental)4:036Reset the Preset (instrumental)3:417Destruction Manual (instrumental)3:568Dead End (instrumental)3:569Leaving the Planet Earth (instrumental)4:4710Forever Lost (instrumental)4:3211Save Our Souls (instrumental)3:5312One Last Song (instrumental)4:08".

History

Lord of the Lost was founded in mid-2007 by Chris Harms as a solo project. While working on the initial songs and publishing them on MySpace, Harms received a lot of positive reception and realized that he would require a full band to play them live. He recruited other musicians from his friends in the Hamburg music scene to form the band and begin working on the first album. Harms originally called the project Lord, but changed the name of the band to Lord of the Lost to avoid possible name disputes with Lordi and The Lords. Before Lord of the Lost, Harms was a singer and guitarist of the rock band Philiae (1999–2004), a guitarist and second singer with the glam metal band The Pleasures (2004–2007), as well as a musician on various projects like Big Boy and Unterart.
The debut single Dry the Rain was released in 2009 and the debut album Fears×Fears19 February 2010 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 13 tracks1Last Words4:132Break Your Heart3:343Dry the Rain3:194My Deepest Fear3:155The Measure of All Things3:246Till Death Us Do Part3:137Prologue3:398Never Forgive2:579To Die For3:1810Vicious Circle3:2111Not From This World6:1412Nothing Words Can Say5:2313Sooner or Later / [unknown]12:49 was released in 2010 with the independent label Out of Line. While recording the second album Antagony×Antagony1 April 2011 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 15 tracks1Preludium: About Love, Death & the Devil3:522We Are the Lost5:063Sex on Legs3:164Fragmenting Facade4:135Prison3:266Epiphany3:547Love Is Not Enough3:508Antagony (The Truth Is Written Between the Lines)4:439From the Cradle to the Grave3:5010Undead or Alive3:5711Son of the Dawn4:0812Inferior4:1413Seven Days of Anavrin4:5614Revelation 13:1810:5515Reprise: Sober3:57 Lord of the Lost went on an extended tour through 2010 which included international shows and festivals such as the Wave-Gotik-Treffen, the Wacken Open Air and the M'era Luna Festival.
In spring 2011, the band released Sex on Legs as the first single from their second album, Antagony. The album, considered their first concept album, was released shortly thereafter. Lord of the Lost toured in support of the album with the band Mono Inc. on their Viva Hades tour.

In summer 2012, Lord of the Lost released their third album Die Tomorrow×Die Tomorrow31 August 2012 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1Live Today3:182Die Tomorrow3:053Black Lolita3:244Blood for Blood4:035Never Let You Go4:146Shut Up When You’re Talking to Me3:477Heart for Sale3:478From Venus to Mars4:089See You Soon4:3210My Heart Is Black6:1911Your Victories3:2012Credo4:26. Just before the release, the band began working on their fourth album From the Flame into the Fire×From the Flame Into the Fire23 May 2014 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 13 tracks1Fists Up in the Air3:312Kingdom Come3:353La Bomba4:034Afterlife3:255Kill It With Fire3:476Six Feet Underground4:397Go to Hell3:598Odium3:539My Own Shadow3:5410Bitch4:0111I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead4:4412Holy F4:1513In a Perfect World4:39. In October 2012, Lord of the Lost opened for Letzte Instanz on their Ewig Tour. Lord of the Lost started touring again in the spring of 2013 co-headlining on the Darkness Kills tour with Unzucht, and in September kicked off the We Are the Lost tour together with Lost Area. In October 2013, Lord of the Lost appeared as part of the Gothic Meets Klassik at the Leipzig Gewandhaus with the Zielona Gòra Symphony Orchestra.
In February 2014, drummer Christian Schellhorn left the band and was replaced by Tobias Mertens. In March 2014, the band played their first US tour, which was financed by crowdfunding. Within two months fans and sponsors raised US$12,775, surpassing the original goal of $10,000.
In March 2015, Lord of the Lost released the pure acoustic album Swan Songs×Swan Songs20 March 2015 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 21 tracks · 2 discsDisc 11Six Feet Underground (Swan Songs version)4:532Dry the Rain (Swan Songs version)3:413Beyond Beautiful (Swan Songs version)4:374See You Soon (Swan Songs version)4:515Go to Hell (Swan Songs version)4:156Antagony (Swan Songs version)5:177Love in a Time of War (Swan Songs version)6:258October 29 (Swan Songs version)3:339Prison (Swan Songs version)4:0110Till Death Us Do Part (Swan Songs version)3:1711Afterlife (Swan Songs version)3:4812Sober (Swan Songs version)4:4813Credo (Swan Songs version)4:17Disc 21Porcelain5:062Lost in a Heartbeat5:003Annabel Lee3:104So Good It Hurts4:165This Life Divided3:516The Sands of Time3:587If Johnny Cash Was Here4:048Somewhere3:38, which reached number 34 on the GfK Entertainment Charts. The live performances for the album took place on the Out of Line Weekender in Berlin in the same month.
In 2015, Lord of the Lost released the EP Full Metal Whore×Full Metal Whore31 July 2015 · EPSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 9 tracks1Full Metal Whore4:062Love & Hate4:083Born in Slavery4:204Pretty Dead Dead Boy3:235We’re All Created Evil4:386Gespensterhure3:427Full Metal Whore (Dope Stars Inc. remix)4:158Full Metal Whore (Noize Corp remix)5:139Full Metal Whore (Darkflower Dancefloor remix)3:39. The tour for the album used the motto "Make Love Make War" and was supported by the bands Darkhaus, Eyes Shut Tight, Vlad in Tears, and Erdling. In December 2015, they released A Night to Remember – Live Acoustic in Hamburg, the DVD and live CD from the acoustic tour during the previous spring.
The first single "The Love of God×The Love of God13 May 2016 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 5 tracks1The Love of God3:562The Love of God (Piano [Per]Version])3:413The Love of God (Tobias Mertens Ego Version)3:564Another Sunny Day in Paradise3:535Blut für Blut (Blood for Blood - Erdling Version)4:41" from the album Empyrean×Empyrean29 July 2016 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 19 tracks · 2 discsDisc 11Miss Machine3:512Drag Me to Hell3:583The Love of God3:564Raining Stars4:065In Silence3:466Black Oxide3:327Interstellar Wars4:488Doomsday Disco5:269Death Penalty4:0810No Gods, No War3:4411The Interplay of Life and Death5:4012Utopya3:5113Where Is All the Love4:24Disc 21Adonai8:332Lament for the Condemned6:073Now We Are the Aliens4:044Lost in Oblivion4:345Traveller's Wounds5:416Wishing on a Scar4:59 was released in May 2016. This was followed by the band's first major European tour Make Europe Great Again (M.E.G.A.) with Combichrist, Filter, and (at the German concerts) Rabia Sorda. Empyrean was published at the end of July 2016 and is the second concept album from the band.
The band followed Empyrean with their open air concert premiere as The Lord of the Lost Ensemble, an acoustic-classical band supported by classical musicians and the former drummer Christian "Disco" Schellhorn.
In December 2016, guitarist Bo Six announced that he would be leaving the band for professional and private reasons. In early January 2017, the band announced their new guitarist π (Pi).
In July 2017, Tobias Mertens announced that, for private and professional reasons, he would be taking a time-out from Lord of the Lost. Niklas Kahl has stepped in as drummer for live performances.
Lord of the Lost performed with KMFDM on the United Kingdom leg of KMFDM's "Hell Yeah" tour with Inertia during September 2017. The band planned to join KMFDM on the United States portion of the "Hell Yeah" tour with ohGr starting in October 2017. Chris Harms and π were to be playing guitar on stage with KMFDM during the tour, in addition to their Lord of the Lost set. Lord of the Lost was forced to withdraw from KMFDM's United States tour when they were not issued visas by the U.S. government.

Iron Maiden's Steve Harris personally picked Lord of the Lost to support Iron Maiden on their 2020 European leg of the Legacy of the Beast World Tour but due to the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, the tour had to be cancelled. The tour was rescheduled and in 2022, Lord of the Lost played as a support act in 17 European cities on Iron Maiden's Legacy of the Beast world tour and gained much recognition. Iron Maiden subsequently renewed this successful collaboration for the European leg of the 2023 The Future Past world tour.
In December 2022, Lord of the Lost surprised their fans by releasing their new studio album "Blood and Glitter" months before it was scheduled to be released. The album, in spite of the last minute release and lack of pre-promotion, managed to hit Nr. 1 on the official German Music Charts.
With the song "Blood and Glitter", Lord of the Lost won Unser Lied für Liverpool, and thus represented Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023. They placed 26th out of 26 entrants in the final, with a score of 18 points.
In August 2024 they played a 70-minute set at the German music festival Summer Breeze Open Air.
In July 2026, Class Grenayde and Pi Stoffers announced they would depart ways with the band.

Musical style and influences

Lord of the Lost produces music influenced by several genres including heavy metal, glam rock, industrial music, and classical music. In interviews with the magazine Orkus and the website Subexistance, Chris Harms has cited bands and musicians such as Rammstein, Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson and Lady Gaga as some of the many performers that he listens to and is influenced by. AllMusic described Lord of the Lost as "a sinister goth-metal and dark industrial rock outfit".

Reception

Although it has not always been received as highly innovative, the debut album Fears×Fears19 February 2010 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 13 tracks1Last Words4:132Break Your Heart3:343Dry the Rain3:194My Deepest Fear3:155The Measure of All Things3:246Till Death Us Do Part3:137Prologue3:398Never Forgive2:579To Die For3:1810Vicious Circle3:2111Not From This World6:1412Nothing Words Can Say5:2313Sooner or Later / [unknown]12:49 received an overall positive critique by the music press. The music Magazine Sonic Seducer praised not only the "pleasant deep promising vocals" but also the "dark, melodramatic moments" and described the album as "dark mélange of music styles which give the album a fresh and great variety". In Zillo the debut has been described as "not really original or ground-breaking" but it has been praised for its "hard and unconditional songs". Orkus, however, wrote that they have waited a long time for an album "so interesting and rich in variety". Metal.de described the album as "absolutely okay" but suggested to listen to some songs before buying the album because it might be "too hard for some, and too soft for others".

Members

Members of the band often, but not always, adopt stage names which appear in the credits for the band. If known, the artist's given name is listed after the stage name in parentheses.
Current members

Chris "The Lord" Harms – lead vocals, guitars, cello (2007–present)
Gerrit "Gared Dirge" Heinemann – piano, keyboards, percussion, guitars, theremin (2010–present)
Niklas Kahl – drums (2017–present)
Benjamin "Benji" Mundigler – guitars, keyboards, backing vocals (2024–present)
Previous members

Stefan "Sensai" Ehrhardt – guitars (2008–2010)
Sebastian "Sebsta Lindström" Makowski – guitars (2008–2011)
Anika "Any" Wayst – drums (2008–2011)
Borislav "Bo Six" Crnogorac – guitars (2009–2016)
Christian "Disco" Schellhorn – drums (2012–2014)
Tobias Mertens – drums (2014–2017)
Klaas "Class Grenayde" Helmecke – bass, backing vocals (2008–2026)
Pi "π" Stoffers – guitars, backing vocals (2017–2026)

Touring members

Dom. R. Crey - bass (2026)
Bengt Jaeschke - bass (2026-present)
Timeline

DVDs

2012: Black to the Roots
2014: One Night – Lord of the Lost & The Zielona Góra Symphony Orchestra – Live in Leipzig
2015: A Night to Remember – Live Acoustic in Hamburg

Exclusive sampler contributions

2011: "Do You Wanna Die Without a Scar" (on the Sonic Seducer sampler Cold Hands Seduction Vol. 117)
2011: "Death Doesn't Kill You But I Do" (on the Out of Line sampler Awake the Machines, Vol. 7)