Album Review: Lucifer - Lucifer III
Reviewed by Paul Hutchings
Back in 2015 Lucifer supported Paradise Lost at the Wulfrun Hall in Wolverhampton. They were immediately locked on my radar, the band’s retro mix of doom, gothic, stoner and psychedelia pushed many of my rock buttons. Roll forward to March 2020, with the world in the grip of Covid 19, and Lucifer are back with album number three and ready to take us back to simpler times when the darkness was created by the crunching riffs of Sabbath et al, when you didn’t have to wash your hands every two minutes and the media just maybe didn’t fuel mass panic buying of toilet roll.
Once more the band, whose current line-up comprises vocalist Johanna Platow Andersson (vocals), Nicke Platow Andersson (drums), Linus Björklund (guitar) Martin Nordin (guitar) and Harald Göthblad (bass) have delivered the goods. Less than two years since the solid sophomore record ‘II’, their 70s hard rock style is once more laced with the combination of proto metal, doom and even a bluesy undertone. There are some crushingly heavy riffs, such as the driving Satyricon flavoured one on ‘Midnight Phantom’, or the stunning masterpiece ‘Leather Demon’, which combines Sabbath style breakdowns, Blue Öyster Cult melody and Johanna’s stunning vocals to magical effect.
As a band defined by their 1970s sound, there may be few surprises included in this album but that doesn’t prevent you from appreciating the sheer quality on offer. The main influences are groups such as Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Blue Öyster Cult, Lucifer’s Friend, Steppenwolf, 70s Heart and Fleetwood Mac and these are all evident in the band’s music without any plagiarism. ‘Lucifer’ for example, contains soaring Steppenwolf riffing, thick Deep Purple type keys and a haunting Ann Wilson vocal. Now based in Sweden, only Johanna remains from the original line -up formed from The Oath in 2014 but with a fresh line-up, the band have burst back with an album of quality. It’s Johanna’s vocals that capture the attention, similar in many aspects to Blues Pills’ Elin Larsson and Avatarium’s Jennie-Ann Smith but with a different delivery. ‘Pacific Blue’ and ‘Coffin Fever’ see Johanna reach deep into her range, the 70’s sound of Heart’s Ann Wilson prevalent whilst her warm tones work hand in hand with the groove on the Fleetwood Mac influenced ‘Stay astray’.
But Lucifer is not all about Johanna, and there is some stellar guitar work from Björklund and Nordin throughout the album, the hazy, Sabbath style perfectly suited to the band’s sound. Some of their lead work on tracks such as ‘Stay Astray’ and the bluesy ‘Cemetery Eyes’ which closes the album exquisite. Andersson, of course, has a rich history with several well-known outfits including The Hellacopters, Entombed, Imperial State Electric, Death Breath and his drumming anchors everything tightly alongside new bassist Göthblad. Produced by Andersson in his Honk Palace studio over the winter of 2019, ‘III’ promises to be one of the most anticipated and well received releases of the year.
‘Lucifer III’ is released on Century Media on 20th March
