Having lain dormant since 1992 (when their last album,
Demons Dawn, was issued), mainstream rockers
House of Lords decided to reunite over a decade later, and released 2004's
The Power and the Myth. Only one small problem -- their best-known member (and a co-founding one at that),
Gregg Giuffria, was nowhere to be found. Still, the album did manage to contain three original members (guitarist
Lanny Cordola, bassist
Chuck Wright, and drummer
Ken Mary), with a very accomplished keyboardist, ex-
Dream Theater's
Derek Sherinian, replacing
Giuffria. Perhaps by chance (or perhaps not),
Sherinian's former band immediately comes to mind during the album-opening "Today." Elsewhere, tracks such as "All Is Gone," "The Man Who I Am," and "Mind Trip" all come from the same melodic/mainstream '80s rock mold -- with a progressive edge at times. Fans of slightly sophisticated yet tuneful '80s hard rock are obviously the target audience of
The Power and the Myth.