LUCIFER

Lucifer III

Century Media
rating icon 8 / 10

Track listing:

01. Ghosts
02. Midnight Phantom
03. Leather Demon
04. Lucifer
05. Pacific Blues
06. Coffin Fever
07. Flanked by Snakes
08. Stay Astray
09. Cemetery Eyes


Born from the ashes of the short-lived, awesome band OATH, German vocalist Johanna Sadonis carried that duo's vibrant energy forward into her new project: LUCIFER. She assembled an impressive lineup at that time, then including former CATHEDRAL guitarist Gaz Jennings, for the writing and recording of the debut. Since then, the unit hasn't made any left turns, unleashing music that's suitable for fans of THE DEVIL'S BLOOD and beyond due to the noticeably accessible stylings. They have stayed the course toward traditional heavy metal and hard rock glory. LUCIFER returns at the onset of the new decade with "Lucifer III", an absolute barn burner of an occult rock album from front to back.

LUCIFERVersion: 2020 now finds the German front woman joined by a Swedish cast of characters: guitarists Martin Nordin and Linus Björklund, bassist Harald Göthblad, and none other than Nicke Andersson of ENTOMBED and THE HELLACOPTERS fame on drums. Not surprisingly, Andersson's percussive contribution is adept, tasteful and memorable without being overbearing. Andersson's presence is an obvious focal point, yet it doesn't overshadow the unit's true centerpiece — Johanna Sadonis's beautiful vocals. Her majestic crooning is ripped out of the pages of the playbook of sixties and seventies psychedelic and hard rock, and along with the eerie musicianship accompanying her, LUCIFER sounds like what could be a fitting soundtrack for the classic 1979 flick "Amityville Horror". Appropriate for this kind of energy and essence, legendary horror poster artist Graham Humphreys hand painted "Lucifer III"'s cover.

Sadonis's ethereal and brooding singing catapults the track bearing the band's name into a gothic stratosphere. The vocals and music together somehow usher in a state of calmness that's magnificently and inexplicably almost high energy at the same time. One of the most overtly adrenaline-infused tracks is "Flanked by Snakes", a number that instantly grabs the listener by the throat with an absolutely infectious and glowing hook that sets the tone for what proves to be a riveting track throughout. Sadonis's passions flare with great radiance on "Leather Demon", a track excluding a tremendous sense of mischievousness, defiance and combativeness from the vocalist.

"Lucifer III" isn't anything unexpected. Yet it isn't more of the same. The album is a better filtration of the act's key components. "Lucifer III" is essentially the common ground between fans of JEFFERSON AIRPLANE on one side of the fence and EMPEROR and DEICIDE on the other — highly recommended for all fans of occult rock.

Author: Jay H. Gorania
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).