UMUR
"Of Lucifer and Lightning" is the 4th full-length studio album by US death metal act Angelcorpse. The album was released through Osmose Productions in April 2007. Angelcorpse folded in 1999 while on tour supporting "The Inexorable (1999)", but reunited in 2006 and began work on the material for "Of Lucifer and Lightning". Compared to the three-piece lineup who recorded "The Inexorable (1999)", drummer Tony Laureano has been replaced by John Longstreth. The remaining part of the lineup is intact: Pete Helmkamp (vocals, bass) and Gene Palubicki (guitars).
Not surprisingly Longstreth is an adequate replacement for Laureano (knowing the performances of the former on other projects), but it´s a real shame that his performance on "Of Lucifer and Lightning" is scarred by a thin and clicky sounding drum production. The material on the album is more or less business as usual for Angelcorpse, and there are very few (read...no) surprises if you´re familiar with the occult/anti-christian themed death metal with blackened snarling vocals of the preceding releases (song titles like "Antichrist Vanguard", "Shining One (Rex Luciferi)", and "Saints of Blasphemy" tell the story of the lyrical content). Helmkamp sounds as caustic as ever and the band are as relentlessly aggressive and fast playing as the day they founded the band back in 1995.
As mentioned the sound production leaves a bit to be desired though, and as a consequence the already relatively one-dimensional material, appear even less varied. It´s not that the predecessors are particularly varied releases, but it was acceptable because of the relentless aggressive energy of the music and powerful sounding productions, but with one of those ingredients not being on par, "Of Lucifer and Lightning" comes off a lot less interesting, than the band´s preceding releases. It´s still a quality death metal release, and a 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved, but it could definitely have been better had it featured a better sounding production job.