Lucifer – Lucifer V
Multi-national rockers Lucifer have released their latest offering, Lucifer V. When lead vocalist/songwriter Johanna Sadonis kicked things off with Lucifer I on the heels of her band The Oath, I was so excited, and I wasn’t disappointed. That album catalyzed a nearly nine-year life in the hard rock/metal world. All these years later, Lucifer is back with their fifth album, but there’s one problem. I had difficulty remembering the three previous ones, which told me something.
I went back and revisited the debut and still loved it as much as I did on day one, but I found myself indifferent to the previous three, and by the end of Lucifer IV, I was hard-pressed even to distinguish where one started and one ended. While I hoped Lucifer V would break that cycle, it didn’t.
Kicking things off with “Fallen Angel,” I just listened to see what was happening. Was this song going to go someplace great and different? I waited, but that moment never came. I continued to listen, but suddenly I found myself drifting, and before I knew it, I was on the 5th song, wondering what the fuck happened to the previous three. I went back to the tracks and felt like I was listening to the first one again.
Johanna and Co. seem to try too hard to have some sort of “thing.” The death, graveyard, and cryptic puns cause me to roll my eyes just slightly. “At the MORTUARY,” “Slow Dance In a CRYPT,” and “A COFFIN Has No Silver Lining” are just a few examples of how this kind of gimmick feels a bit overplayed and contrived. This alone isn’t enough for me to write the album off, but the songs themselves are.
I thought Lucifer was onto something truly remarkable with their debut album. I hoped to see a natural progression over time, but with lineup changes and a change of dynamics of writing, Lucifer adopted a more classic rock sound ala KISS, Deep Purple, and Blue Oyster Cult. There are a lot of terrible bands that can influence a band, and while these influences don’t suck at all, they didn’t necessarily inspire Lucifer to create something new.
Look, I’m a big fan of bands such as AC/DC and KISS. Those bands have songs that I thoroughly enjoy and would enjoy any and every time I saw them live. Lucifer is no different. Every time I have seen them, they are outstanding. The shows are fun, energetic, and a sweaty-ass good time. Maybe Lucifer is just a great live band for me, and that’s ok.
Lucifer isn’t re-creating the wheel here and more power to them. It seems to make them happy and bring many new fans in, so that is a plus. As for me, Lucifer V didn’t do much for me. It was un-insulting, generic, but solid. Unforgettable but perfect music to play while sending emails or doing some chores. With Lucifer V, I heard an album of good, no-frills hard rock music. It wasn’t terrible, nor was it out of this-world mind-blowing. It was good, and sometimes, that’s all an album needs to be. Just good.
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