{"id":70570,"date":"2018-07-06T00:00:47","date_gmt":"2018-07-06T00:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=70570"},"modified":"2018-07-06T18:48:55","modified_gmt":"2018-07-06T18:48:55","slug":"album-review-lucifer-lucifer-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-lucifer-lucifer-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"LUCIFER – Lucifer II (2018) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

LUCIFER
Lucifer II<\/strong><\/span>
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\nCentury Media (2018)<\/span>
Rating: 8.5\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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And here we are again, all leathered and lathered up for another bout of throwback rock from Lucifer, the band fronted by the mercurial and devilish sorceress Johanna Sadonis. Only this time its former Entombed and Hellacopters man Nicke Andersson (replacing Cathedral\u2019s Gaz Jennings) who brings fresh blood to a style of heavy rock that in the sense of many bands within the genre, has become stale.<\/p>\n

On this second outing we get less, say, psychedelic stoner \/ doom and more of an edgier 70s vibe, although the band is still responsible for some killer biker grooves.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve seen the cheesy promo video for opener \u2018California Son\u2019 \u2013 where the posse look as if they\u2019ve stepped straight off the set of cult 70s British movie Psychomania<\/em> \u2013 then you would of heard the well-oiled if somewhat predictable riff that sounds stripped from Black Sabbath<\/a>\u2019s 1973 Sabbath Bloody Sabbath<\/em><\/a> opus. But it\u2019s easy on the ear stuff, combing a wide range of influences in its road trip to hell and beyond, as Lucifer once again head down those retro straits. Where it leads them we\u2019ll have to wait and see, although I see severe limits within these sorts of musical frameworks where at one end we had the more psychedelic and watery Purson, and then onto far heavier and all-out doom chimes.<\/p>\n

This sophomore album is somewhat predictable even if the leather-clad gang has opted for more summery vibes, with \u2018Dreamer\u2019, and its promo video, wafting towards Fleetwood Mac meets The Wicker Man<\/em> and the Manson Family. The eventual sludged up riffs are well coupled with Sadonis\u2019s rather simple yet effective tones as she drags us with some mesmeric quality into the hippiedom of the 70s, where it\u2019s all green fields and not an ounce of satanic whispering to be heard. This leads me to believe that maybe Lucifer has stepped outside the occult realm, and instead focusing on maybe trickles of Ronnie James Dio and his vivid and mystical imagination as further moody waves of riffage come crawling.<\/p>\n

The kaleidoscopic moments do<\/em> still exist; \u2018Eyes In The Sky\u2019 is wistful and acid-soaked, while \u2018Faux Pharaoh\u2019 is represented with a withering doom riff and haunting vocal whirls. So, the \u201cmetal\u201d is very much there and so is that air of darkness, but when one considers that Johanna Sadonis is the only surviving member from the 2015 debut opus it seems only natural that the sound would change and evolve into something a tad different.<\/p>\n

In fact, at times this new record is a very<\/em> different beast, and it\u2019s for the positive. Due to Andersson\u2019s involvement \u2013 on guitar and<\/em> percussion \u2013 the sound feels looser, a bit more \u201crock \u2018n\u2019 roll\u201d for want of a better term, with more unorthodox expressions such as the folky \u2018Before The Sun\u2019.<\/p>\n

The inclusion of a cover of the Rolling Stones tune \u2018Dancing With Mr D\u2019 suggests that Sadonis wanted to take things up a notch, and for people to perceive the band as having more oomph. So, overall, Lucifer II<\/em> is a classic rock record… the cloak is off, the dagger is in the dish washer and yet there\u2019s a pout while the chest is forced out.<\/p>\n

Special mention must go to Robin Tidebrink\u2019s leads which add an inimitable fire that would no doubt get the Devil hopping. I\u2019m almost thankful that the band has become more straight-laced, lapping at the likes of Uriah Heep, Deep Purple and Bad Company instead of Satan\u2019s now well-tongued orifice, even if \u2018Reaper On Your Heels\u2019 bounds with occult excitement.<\/p>\n

However, the barrel-chested percussion on \u2018Aton\u2019, the edgy, driving rockin\u2019 of \u2018Phoenix\u2019 and the almost sparse use of any gimmicks throughout puts Lucifer\u2019s sophomore full-length offering into the higher echelons when it comes to modern rock records; this whole cauldron now emptied of its more bewitching bubbles, instead being replaced by engine oil and attitude in abundance.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LUCIFERLucifer II Century Media (2018)Rating: 8.5\/10 And here we are again, all leathered and lathered up for another bout of throwback rock from Lucifer, the band fronted by the mercurial and devilish sorceress Johanna Sadonis. Only this time its former Entombed and Hellacopters man Nicke Andersson (replacing Cathedral\u2019s Gaz Jennings) who brings fresh blood to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,4046],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-70570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-lucifer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70570"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70570\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70571,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70570\/revisions\/70571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}