LUCIFER
“Lucifer V”
Album Review by Iron Mathew

9/10

Lucifer are a German born heavy metal band now based in Sweden formed in 2014, releasing five albums to date – ‘Lucifer I’ (2015), ‘Lucifer II’ (2018), ‘Lucifer III’ (2020), ‘Lucifer IV’ (2021), and (yes, surely you get the pattern by now) ‘Lucifer V’ in 2024.

Led by charismatic singer Johanna Platow Andersson, the band deliver a mix of hard rock, heavy metal, doom and occult rock harking back to the seventies ala legendary bands Black Sabbath, Pentagram, Alice Cooper and Blue Oyster Cult. In the ten years since their inception, Lucifer has played shows all across Europe, Japan, North and South America, performed at some of the worlds biggest metal festivals such as Hellfest and Wacken Open Air (to name just two), and supported Swedish metallers Ghost on the bands 2023 European tour. And in 2024, Lucifer will embark on the second leg of their own Satanic Panic tour, visiting Europe with special guests Attic and The Night Eternal as support. Hard working and prolific are just two (yea I know it’s actually three) of the words to describe Lucifer, the bands new album featuring nine doom heavy yet hauntingly melodious, groove laden hard rocking heavy metal songs across a forty minute run time…

…’Fallen Angel’ exploding into life with the kinda guitar sound early eighties metal bands brought forward from the seventies – the combination of groove and rock with heavy metal an eclectic mix that Lucifer have revelled in since their 2015 debut! There’s no doubting the powerhouse vocals of singer Andersson are fit for the biggest arenas in the world, ‘Fallen Angel’ an immediate head turner that’s gonna have every listener everywhere sitting up to take notice of a band on top form. Clocking in at over six minutes in length, ‘At The Mortuary’ is by far and away the longest song on offer, crossing boundaries to deliver a genre hopping hurrah to every rocker and metaller on the planet! Lucifer sew the sound of classic rock into ‘At The Mortuary’s framework, every fan of seventies glam rock turning their head in the direction of the Swedish five-piece – imagine the sounds of Heart, Kiss and Black Sabbath joining forces! And that’s just the tip of the iceberg, ’cause until you actually give Lucifer a listen you ain’t ever gonna really know how dramatic, doomy yet fucking infectious the bands sound is! Changing gear and tempo but losing nothing of the incredible seventies rock sound, ‘Riding Reaper’ is a chugger of the most emphatic nature, stomping hard to shudder the ground it walks on. No, strides on – it’s more majestic than just a walk!

And dropping a few gears, the band turn the lights down low across the glitter ball lit dance floor for ‘Slow Dance In A Crypt’, every flare wearing satin shirted platform shoed rocker around the world smiling from ear to ear – Lucifer delivering a retro rocking moment for the elders among us with long memories! And the haunting yet serene ballad-like vocals are gonna send shivers down the spine and raise hairs on the backs of necks – Andersson’s immense vocal range very wide indeed! Firmly rooted in the seventies, ‘A Coffin Has No Silver Lining’ is a mid tempo swagger of rock with an upbeat and highly melodious nature that’s gonna warm the hearts of everyone of any age – for rock (and indeed metal) has no age limit! It’s not bound by any age bracket, year or decade – yes you can date rock (and metal) to a certain era in time, but with bands such as Lucifer – and fellow Swedes Velvet Insane not allowing the good old days of rock to die, classic rock is gonna live forever! The hard rocking nature of ‘Lucifer V’ takes a back seat for a moment, as ‘Maculate Heart’ brings balladry to the fore – for the first thirty seconds! And then bish bash bosh, the bands thunderous intent explodes into life, ‘Maculate Heart’ doing a one eighty to become an up tempo energetic stomper. Sending shockwaves all around the planet, ‘Maculate Heart’ is gonna set off seismic activity in all one hundred and ninety five countries in the world…

…which is what ‘Lucifer V’ has actually been doing ever since it began – it’s just that ‘Maculate Heart’ is the biggest shockwave of them all. And by shockwaves I mean songs, and by “them all” I mean “so far”, ’cause there’s still three songs to come! The first of which ‘The Dead Don’t Speak’, has the biggest groove of anything heard up to this point – the bluesy swagger pouring outta ‘The Dead Don’t Speak’ pouring like lava out of an erupting volcano! And just as hot too, the sizzling, sassy and seductive voice of Andersson melting my heart and turning my legs to jelly! What a performance, what a song, an album and a band – Lucifer striding on with the up tempo rocker ‘Strange Sister’, battering every listener with an avalanche of energetic rock infused heavy metal. And that right there, is the bands root sound – rock infused heavy metal! And all with a strong seventies feel too, ‘Nothing Left To Lose But My Life’ bringing the album to a close with the mellowest, most ballad-like song on offer! I say ballad-like, because the band keep to the heavy half of the rock genre, so put your lighters away and enjoy the soulful serenity and intoxicating vocals of ‘Nothing Left To Lose But My Life’.

Overall, a red hot retro rock feel mixed with modern day hard rock and heavy metal, ‘Lucifer V’ is jaw droppingly infectious.

TRACKLIST

Fallen Angel
At The Mortuary
Riding Reaper
Slow Dance In A Crypt
A Coffin Has No Silver Lining
Maculate Heart
The Dead Don’t Speak
Strange Sister
Nothing Left To Lose But My Life

http://www.lucifer.church/
https://www.facebook.com/luciferofficial

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