Lucifer Ita

Twenty-eight years and eleven full length albums into their career, flagship Hellenic black metal band Rotting Christ unleash Lucifer Over Athens, their second live album. Founded in 1987 by brothers Sakis and Themis Tolis along with Jim Mutilator, also known for his work with Varathron, Rotting Christ was one of the first Greek black metal bands and were the forerunners of that classic, theatrical Hellenic sound…

We've been following the career of Norway's Lucifer Was here at SoT for quite a number of years, and for those who might be new to the band, they formed in the late 1960's under various different names before settling on Lucifer Was in the early '70s. The band played plenty of live gigs until 1974, when they split up before recording any of the original music they had written and played live. Fast forward to 1995 when various members of the original band got together for some jamming, and an updated version of Lucifer Was crept from the grave, recording their first ever album in 1997 and they have stayed fairly active since then. Morning Star is their latest Transubstans Records release, and comes three years after 2014's DiesGrows. This new one also features the complete original line-up of Lucifer Was along with the current version of the band!…

Lucifer wasted no time and used the pandemic to record yet another long player that rings in a new chapter and dives even further into the grande realms of colossal old fashioned rock, with a severe morbid twist. For this opus they entered guitarist Linus Björklund’s Studio Ryssviken for an even more heart pounding drum sound while continuing their work at The Honk Palace. This time Lucifer has expanded their song writing partnership within the band and Johanna has not only penned the new material with Nicke but also with guitarist Linus, as well as guitarist Martin Nordin contributing. With “Lucifer IV” the group is proving furthermore to be steadily building their very own pillar of rock history, brick by brick.

Although they would develop a more prog-influenced style, this debut album finds Lucifer's Friend living up to their sinister name by performing heavy, keyboard-textured rock in the vein of Deep Purple or Uriah Heep. It gets off to a thunderous start with "Ride the Sky," a punchy rocker built on a rumbling, guitar-fuelled melody reminiscent of "The Immigrant Song" by Led Zeppelin. From there, the band works its way through a series of songs that combine heavy guitar riffs with often-complex arrangements that border on prog rock: "Keep Goin'" builds from organ-led verses into a guitar-dense jam driven home by John Lawton's wailing vocals, and the title track effectively contrasts heavy guitar-laden verses with an eerie chorus full odd keyboard and vocal effects to create its spooky atmosphere…

The debut album by the heavy metal / prog band appeared on Vertigo Records. The English singer John Lawton, guitarist Peter Hesslein and bassist Dieter Horns on the front, all seasoned warriors of the European rock scene, licking the hard rock flames of Lucifer's Friend in the realm of Uriah Heep (where Laughton in 1977 lead singer was) and Led Zeppelin. Despite critics' jubilation Lawton had then also join the Les Humphries Singers (in order to pay the rent). One of the first Metal LPs ever.