{"id":27814,"date":"2024-01-15T16:33:16","date_gmt":"2024-01-15T16:33:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alliedforces.eu\/?p=27814"},"modified":"2024-01-15T16:34:43","modified_gmt":"2024-01-15T16:34:43","slug":"review-lucifer-lucifer-v-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alliedforces.eu\/en\/review-lucifer-lucifer-v-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Lucifer: Lucifer V (2024, Nuclear Blast)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Three years have passed since <strong>Lucifer <\/strong>released its excellent fourth studio album, one of the strongest in its promising career, which this year celebrates a decade since its formation. When <strong>Johanna Sadonis<\/strong> announced in 2014 that she was breaking her pact with guitarist <strong>Linn\u00e9a Olsson<\/strong> and that <strong>The Oath<\/strong> ceased to exist, it was a great moment of sadness that in 2015 resulted in a huge debut album like Lucifer I (2015, Rise Above), which came later is now part of the history of music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The band has gone through several lineup changes throughout these ten years of existence, maintaining Johanna as the undisputed leader and only original member since its formation in 2014. Since 2017 it has among its ranks the visionary drummer <strong>Nicke Andersson<\/strong> who is a true celebrity in Swedish death metal for his contribution to the genre as drummer and founder of <strong>Nihilist <\/strong>before changing his name to <strong>Entombed<\/strong>, as well as for having designed both the logo and the covers of <strong>Entombed <\/strong>before founding his other highly successful and recognized band as <strong>The Hellacopters<\/strong>. Guitarists <strong>Martin Nordin<\/strong> and <strong>Linus Bj\u00f6rklund <\/strong>and bassist <strong>Harald G\u00f6thblad<\/strong> complete the lineup that has remained stable since 2019 and has already given life to the albums <strong><em>Lucifer III<\/em><\/strong> (2020, Century Media) and <strong><em>Lucifer IV<\/em><\/strong> (2021, Century Media).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"LUCIFER - A Coffin Has No Silver Lining (The Sistine Version) (OFFICIAL PROMO)\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-EZkgyp9D18?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">From what I&#8217;ve read, this is <strong>Lucifer<\/strong>&#8216;s definitive album, which is probably the best of his career to date. And I can not agree more. Although <strong>Lucifer <\/strong>has drawn enormously from bands like <strong>Black Sabbath<\/strong> or <strong>Blue \u00d6yster Cult<\/strong>, something that the band has expressed on countless occasions, it has managed to distance itself from these labels to offer something new and different whose greatest attraction is the spectacular voice of its vocalist and leader <strong>Johanna Sadonis<\/strong>, whose vocal range seems to improve with each album that <strong>Lucifer <\/strong>releases. A clear example of <strong>Johanna<\/strong>&#8216;s amazing voice is the catchy song <strong><em>At The Mortuary<\/em><\/strong>, second song on the album, in which she offers one of her best performances leading <strong>Lucifer <\/strong>to date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Another of the aspects that surprised me the most about the album is the variety of songs that make up its tracklist, from songs with a clear orientation towards doom like <strong><em>Slow Dance In A Crypt<\/em><\/strong>, a dark pseudo ballad that torments you from the inside and that easily could appear in a Hammer monster movie, to much more lively and rock songs as in the case of <strong><em>Strange Sister<\/em><\/strong> or the lively <strong><em>Fallen Angel<\/em><\/strong> that opens the album. Of all the previews published up to the album&#8217;s release date, I definitely choose the raw and tremendously interesting <strong><em>A Coffin Has No Silver Lining<\/em><\/strong> without a doubt, whose choruses catch you at all times and make you descend into the deepest darkness, but with great elegance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/alliedforces.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Lucifer-Band-2024-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-27820\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alliedforces.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Lucifer-Band-2024-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/alliedforces.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Lucifer-Band-2024-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/alliedforces.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Lucifer-Band-2024-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/alliedforces.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Lucifer-Band-2024-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/alliedforces.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Lucifer-Band-2024-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What is most surprising about <strong><em>Lucifer V<\/em><\/strong> is the enormous amount of melodic riffs that populate the album, an exceptional work by <strong>Linus Bj\u00f6rklund<\/strong> and <strong>Martin Nordin<\/strong> that was already present in their previous work but that here manages to provide much more depth to an album whose atmosphere is governed by the rhythmic basis of bassist <strong>Harald G\u00f6thblad<\/strong> and the always accomplished drummer <strong>Nicke Andersson<\/strong>. I would like to give <strong>Nicke <\/strong>much more prominence because he is one of my idols in Swedish music, but even though in <strong>Lucifer <\/strong>he does an exceptional job like in the opening of the intense <strong>Maculate Heart<\/strong>, his work is always overshadowed by a brilliant voice like of his wife <strong>Johanna<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There is no better way to close an album as special as <strong>Lucifer V<\/strong> other than with the slow and heartbreaking <strong><em>Nothing Left To Lose But My Life<\/em><\/strong>, a true anthem that manages to close the album with great strength and with all the elegance of a band that works. wonderfully, with a certain aroma of <strong>Pentagram <\/strong>and <strong>Trouble<\/strong>. Once again I surrender to the excellent choirs and the very powerful voice of <strong>Johanna<\/strong>, a barrage of sensations and emotions that invade me every time I listen to her, which I can only praise as she well deserves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"LUCIFER - Slow Dance In A Crypt (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/9tR8nGUfvC0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If I had to highlight something negative about the album, it is its short duration. It&#8217;s not that the album is short, since its total duration is close to 40 minutes, but it seems too short to me and I would like it to last another 40 minutes, although that is my problem. When you really like something you wish it would never end, but all good things have an ending and <strong><em>Lucifer V <\/em><\/strong>ends wonderfully with <strong><em>Nothing Left To Lose But My Life<\/em><\/strong>. The Swedish five-piece has done it again and you can&#8217;t do anything other than take your hat off to <strong>Lucifer<\/strong>&#8216;s best album to date<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/alliedforces.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Lucifer-Lucifer-V-2024-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-27816\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alliedforces.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Lucifer-Lucifer-V-2024-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/alliedforces.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Lucifer-Lucifer-V-2024-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/alliedforces.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Lucifer-Lucifer-V-2024-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/alliedforces.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Lucifer-Lucifer-V-2024-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/alliedforces.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Lucifer-Lucifer-V-2024-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/alliedforces.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Lucifer-Lucifer-V-2024-2048x2048.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tracklist:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Fallen Angel<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>At The Mortuary<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Riding Reaper<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Slow Dance In A Crypt<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A Coffin Has No Silver Lining<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Maculate Heart<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Dead Don&#8217;t Speak<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Strange Sister<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Nothing Left To Lose But My Life<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Lucifer V<\/strong> will be released on January 26 via <strong>Nuclear Blast<\/strong> in CD, red vinyl and gold\/black splatter vinyl, although pre-orders of the splatter vinyl are already sold out through the <a href=\"https:\/\/lucifer.merchants.se\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>official Lucifer store<\/strong><\/a>. You can pre-order the album <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nuclearblast.com\/eu\/catalogsearch\/result\/?q=lucifer&amp;artist=lucifer&amp;sb=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">through Nuclear Blast<\/a><\/strong> as well.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The fifth installment in the Lucifer discography is their best album to date.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27817,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[774],"tags":[612],"class_list":["post-27814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reviews","tag-lucifer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alliedforces.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alliedforces.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alliedforces.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alliedforces.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alliedforces.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27814"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alliedforces.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27814\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alliedforces.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alliedforces.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alliedforces.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alliedforces.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}