First review of the year for me, and well, I think 2024 is going to have to work impossibly hard to produce enough albums to force this belter out of my best of the year list. Why is that, I metaphorically hear you ask? Well, read on dear reader, read on. Lucifer has now been going an entire decade after the break-up of the all too briefly lived The Oath (if you can find that album, get it, it’s excellent), and five albums in Johanna Sadonis, or “Johanna from Lucifer” as in a recent interview I heard her ask to be referred to, remains the sole original member, albeit this is the third album with the current line-up. So, with the passage of a decade, and a new label for ‘V’ what has changed? I am glad to report, nothing. In a world where some bands feel the need to constantly chop and change style and reinvent themselves to try and grab the TikTok length inspired attention spans of the average modern music consumer staring at their phone screen, Lucifer stick to what they do, and what they do is magnificent.
‘Fallen Angel’ commences this parade of excellence, a pounding rhythm section and howling guitars surrounding the siren vocals of Johanna in a three-minute metal sprint guaranteed to have long hair flailing about and leather clad fists pumping the air in time to the beat. This would be a fantastic set opener to whip up the crowd, or an equally magnificent closing encore to leave the audience with a massive grin of satisfaction. After this sonic assault, ‘At The Mortuary’ is an altogether more laid back number, complete with a jaunty chorus that could be a throwback to the sound of Swinging Sixties London, albeit with lyrics rather darker than Cilla Black would have leant her voice to. So, who expected an Ave Noctum writer to refer to the late erstwhile Prescilla White, and why did she come to mind? Well, long before she was a presenter of TV fluff, she had been a musical force to be reckoned with, and along with the likes of Dusty Springfield, was possessed of a vocal range and passion that would put the likes of Adele to shame, and Johanna’s voice has that same timeless quality.
‘Riding Reaper’ continues with the occult rock goodness, and as Blue Öyster Cult would assure you, this is not something to fear, but something to embrace, the layers of twin guitars, bass, drums, and subtle keyboards creating a timeless musical tapestry. Things then get sultry and steamy with the romantic ballad ‘Slow Dance In A Crypt’, and let me promise you, if you didn’t bother listening to the lyrics you could indeed imagine loved up and beered up listeners moving slowly cheek to cheek on the dance floor along to the tune. In fact, if anyone is ever foolhardy enough to invite me to a wedding celebration again, I’m taking this with me and making it my mission to have the DJ play it just to see who notices. The band ups the pace again with ‘A Coffin Has No Silver Lining’, a track laden with more hooks than a Cenobite’s tool shed; one of the stand out abilities of the band is not just their playing, but their writing, having the chops to combine lyrical themes that would fill a black metal fan’s heart with grim satisfaction, whilst setting them to tunes that are catchier than Covid in a closed room.
Trust me, I could ramble on unchecked for page after page as to just how good this album is, from the opening acoustic chords of ‘Maculate Heart’ that leads into some classic Seventies hard rock, through the foot stomping thud of ‘The Dead Don’t Speak’, through to album closer ‘Nothing Left To Lose But My Life’, a number that should bring together Goths, Rockers, and Metallers in one happy union, but I don’t want to bore you, rather encourage you to buy this album. ‘V’ highlights just how good a band Lucifer are. Just off a US tour with Coven they are going to hit Europe with Angel Witch, and whilst there are no UK shows announced yet, I can only hope that will change soon.
(9/10 Spenny)
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