Rising from the ashes of the scintillating but short-lived The Oath in 2014, Lucifer have spent the last decade steadily spreading their wings and delivering some of the most chilling, thrilling and seriously catchy tunes in metal. Led by Johanna Platow Andersson, their fifth album sees them refine and perfect their fusion of doom, occult and 70s shock rock, and features songwriting that’s as sharp as their namesake’s trident.
Conjuring up images of old Hammer and Amicus movies and full of hook-laden hybrid moments, Lucifer V sees these Stockholm-based misfits – who also include Johanna’s other half, Nicke Andersson Platow of Entombed and Hellacopters fame in their ranks – at the peak of their powers. Much like Christopher Lee’s Dracula whenever he locked those blood-red eyes on his victims, many of the nine tracks on offer are impossible to resist.
Johanna turns her expressive vocals, which call to mind Heart’s Ann Wilson, up to 13 throughout, and she treats us to some creepy, cheese-sprinkled sermons about sin, death and love affairs with the undead.
Fallen Angel opens the LP with a roar. An electrifying blast of heavy metal thunder, it boasts lightning-fast fretwork, Thin Lizzy-esque riffs and a massive hook. The gloom-laden, piano-led waltz Slow Dance In A Crypt orbits around Led Zeppelin’s Dazed And Confused to summon a live anthem in the making, while the organ-spiced, dark love song At The Mortuary has a chorus that could raise the dead.
Nothing Left To Lose But My Life ends the album strongly. A bombastic power ballad that drips with drama, this show-stopping curtain-closer is a magnetic re-imagining of 60s girl group torch songs. Bursting with ambition and energy from start to finish, Lucifer’s latest is a reminder that the Devil still has the best tunes.
Lucifer V is due January 26 via Nuclear Blast.
