Review | Lucifer – V

Nuclear Blast Records

People that went to the European Ghost concerts in 2023 must have encountered Lucifer, as this Swedish/German metal/rock/doom outfit was one of the support-acts. In business since 2014 female singer Johanna Sadonis started working with multi-instrumentalist/producer Nicke Andersson of The Hellacopters fame. They recorded a second Lucifer album (‘II’) and built up a band together while releasing ‘III’ and ‘IV’ adding the guitarists Martin Nordin and Linus Bjorklund plus bass player Harald Gothblad to the group with Nicke concentrating on drums. All Lucifer albums are really good if you are into seventies rock, metal and doom and don’t mind a psychedelic touch.

COHESIVE

Being together as a band for a few years and with a couple of hundred live shows under their belt it shall not really be a big surprise if I state that their latest piece of art simply entitled ‘V’ is a continuation of the style established on the four predecessors. Yet, I must add that this new record is more cohesive and has also more variation on offer. The band comes out fighting with the fast rocker ,,Fallen Angel’’ and by the time second song ,,At The Mortuary’’ blasts through the speakers, with its Sabbath/Candlemass/Sorcerer riff knocking you half senseless, it is already clear that we are dealing with a winner here.

The songs on ‘V” are more cohesive. The production (I presume done by Nicke) is top, Johanna impresses with her singing and as the albums progresses, we encounter several songs that carry more variation in comparison with older material.

LUCIFER AND THE LYRICS

When you play a sort of doomy metal your lyrics should be somehow in line with the music. Look at the song titles like ,,At The Mortuary’’, ,,Slow Dance In The Crypt’’, ,,The Dead Don’t Speak’’ or ,,A Coffin Has No Silver Lining’’. These are obviously no day-to-day love topics, but are darker tinted words that fit well with their musical environment. There is like I said more variation on ‘V’. Listen to the melancholic yet heavy ballad ,,Slow Dance In The Crypt’’ while album closer ,,Nothing Left To Lose But My Life’’ also has ballad type of features. And the band has not forgotten their two assets on guitar. Nordin and Bjorklund treat us not only on heavy and juicy riffs, their solos are not to be ignored as well. The guitar work is just sublime!

`V’ – THE CONCLUSION

This record makes perfectly clear that Lucifer has made a natural progression. Taking care that more ‘familiar’ features are still there to please the old fans, but also making sure that next to a better production and more cohesive songs more melodic aspects have been added and built in. When I reviewed ‘IV’ a couple of years ago I stated that the group should add some more variety to the mix, as they were running the risk of repeating themselves. I have got no idea if Lucifer read that piece (most likely not) but they did exactly what I asked for! This album is a gigantic kick up the bum!

Release date: 26 January 2024