Weeks have passed since the sensational victory of monster metal band Lordi in the Finnish selection for Athens, but Hard rock hallelujah is still dividing Finns into two distinct camps of love and hate.
Father Mitro Repo, an Orthodox Christian clergyman based in Helsinki, comdemned the song as “a stupid joke” and slammed the band's name as “sacrilege” in an interview with the BBC World Service programme World Today. According to Repo, the choice is a backlash on the part of Finnish youth, angry at the poor placings Finland has received in the contest so far. He continues with the plea “Lord have mercy on us Finnish people now”, representing one extreme of the public reaction to Lordi's selection for Athens. The view is echoed in online forums where Finns are expressing their concern at Lordi's effect on their international image, according to a report from the BBC.
Support for Lordi
On the other hand, the song – and in particular its promotional video – has been collecting its fair share of fans as the contest approaches. Indeed, Lordi began its Eurovision journey with the support of the people: 42% of votes cast were for Hard rock hallelujah, with Finns, especially in the North, phoning en masse to send monster rock to Europe. In the esctoday.com Big poll, visitors currently show their own confidence in the entry, predicting it to scrape into the international final in tenth position. If it manages that, it will be the first Finnish entry to do so, after the failure of 2 to tango and Why? in the two previous contests.
Finland will certainly make viewers take notice with its undeniably original entry, something the contest has never seen before; whether Europe will be divided or united in supporting it will be seen on May 18th, when it competes in the qualifier round in Athens!
