To Beast or Not to Beast

Studio album by

Released

1 March 2013

Genre

Length

43:10

Label

Sony Music (Finland)
AFM Records (Europe)
The End Records (United States, Canada)

Producer

Michael Wagener

Lordi chronology

Babez for Breakfast
(2010)

To Beast or Not to Beast
(2013)

Scare Force One
(2014)

Singles from To Beast or Not to Beast

"The Riff"
Released: 8 February 2013

To Beast or Not to Beast is the sixth studio album of Finnish rock band Lordi, released on 1 March 2013. As is traditional for the band, their costumes were renewed again for the release of this album.^[1] The album was produced and mixed by Michael Wagener and engineered by Shani Gandhi.^[2] It is the first album to feature members Mana and Hella. It also marks the first and only appearance of former drummer Otus, who died in 2012.

In Germany the album was released in digipak covers. The album has been released as LP version in EMP store.^[2]

Track listing

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Length
1.	"We're Not Bad for the Kids (We're Worse)"	Mr Lordi, Tracy Lipp	Mr Lordi, Amen	3:23
2.	"I Luv Ugly"	Lordi, Lipp	Lordi	3:47
3.	"The Riff"	Lordi, Lipp	Lordi, Amen	3:44
4.	"Something Wicked This Way Comes"	Lordi, Lipp	Lordi, Amen	4:57
5.	"I'm the Best"	Lordi	Lordi, P.K. Hell	3:14
6.	"Horrifiction"	Lordi, Lipp	Lordi	3:28
7.	"Happy New Fear"	Lordi, Lipp	Lordi, OX, Hell, Amen	4:45
8.	"Schizo Doll"	Lordi, Lipp	Lordi	4:34
9.	"Candy for the Cannibal"	Lordi, Lipp	Lordi, Hell	4:42
10.	"Sincerely with Love"	Lordi, Lipp	Lordi	3:13
11.	"SCG6: Otus' Butcher Clinic"	Otus	Otus	3:23
Total length:				43:10

Japanese edition bonus track
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
12.	"Hulking Dynamo"	Mr Lordi	3:03
Total length:			46:13

Trivia

This album breaks from the Lordi tradition of having the first track being an SCG track; the SCG track on this album is instead the final track.
It also breaks tradition with the album title. In all their previous albums, the album title is also the title of one of the songs (Bend Over and Pray the Lord, Get Heavy, Deadache, Babez for Breakfast) or the title is part of the lyrics in a song somewhere on the album (The Monsterican Dream are lyrics in "Blood Red Sandman" and The Arockalypse are lyrics in "Hard Rock Hallelujah"). This album, however, does not contain a song called To Beast or Not to Beast, nor is it anywhere in the lyrics for any of the songs.
The album title was originally planned to be "Monsterial Phonica". But after Kiss released their album "Monster", Mr. Lordi thought that their album's name was too close to that so the band changed it to be "Upgradead". However, the band did not consider it an A-class name. Just few months before the release of the album, Amen came up with the final title, which the band felt suitable and perfect.^[2]

Personnel

Credits for To Beast or Not to Beast adapted from liner notes.^[3]

Lordi

Mr Lordi – vocals, artwork
Amen – guitars, backing vocals
Mana – drums
OX – bass
Hella – keyboards, backing vocals

Production

Michael Wagener – production, mixing, mastering, backing vocals
Shani Gandhi – engineering
Petri Haggrén – photography

Additional musicians

Otus – drums (11)
Mark Slaughter – backing vocals
Terry LeRoi – backing vocals
Jeremy Asbrock – backing vocals
Clay Vann – backing vocals
Tracy Lipp – backing vocals
Ralph Ruiz – backing vocals

Charts

Chart (2013)	Peak position^[4]
Austria	67
Finland	8
Germany	56
Switzerland	95

References

^ "Lordi's new members are Mana and Hella – new album To Beast Or Not To Beast out on March 8th". Retrieved 9 January 2013.
^ ^a ^b ^c "To Beast or Not to Beast (2013)". LORDI Army. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
^ (2013). "To Beast or Not to Beast liner notes." In To Beast or Not to Beast [CD booklet]. AFM.
^ Steffen Hung. "Lordi - To Beast Or Not To Beast". finnishcharts.com. Retrieved 10 August 2022.

v t e Lordi
Mr Lordi Hella Mana Hiisi Kone G-Stealer Enary Magnum Kita Kalma Awa Otus OX Amen
Studio albums	Get Heavy The Monsterican Dream The Arockalypse Deadache Babez for Breakfast To Beast or Not to Beast Scare Force One Monstereophonic (Theaterror vs. Demonarchy) Sexorcism Killection Skelectric Dinosaur Superflytrap The Masterbeast from the Moon Abusement Park Humanimals Abracadaver Spooky Sextravaganza Spectacular Screem Writers Guild
Box sets	Lordiversity
DVDs	Recordead Live – Sextourcism in Z7
Singles	"Would You Love a Monsterman?" "Devil Is a Loser" "Hard Rock Hallelujah" "Who's Your Daddy?" "It Snows in Hell" "They Only Come Out at Night" "Bite It Like a Bulldog" "The Riff"
Movies	Dark Floors
See also	Lordi's Square Discography