LUCIFER'S FRIEND — Lucifer's Friend (review)

LUCIFER'S FRIEND — Lucifer's Friend album cover Album · 1970 · Hard Rock Buy this album from MMA partners
4.5/5 ·
Certif1ed
Probably one of the greatest albums you've never heard - if you haven't heard it, of course...

And, given the lack of attention this album seems to get, I'd guess that those who haven't heard it are in the majority - which is a huge shame.

The monster riffs, twin-guitar assaults and huge, metallic sound will make you check out the release date again and wonder how, as a metal fan, you came to miss this one.

"Ride The Sky", the album's opener, is pretty much the perfect blueprint for a heavy metal song, with the sinister opening, the screaming vocals, the diamond sharp twin guitars and the definitive metal rhythm guitar sound.

Even with the Strong Hammond backing, "Everybody's Clown" sounds like something from The Scorpion's 1975 album, Virgin Killer - can't remember if "Speedy's Coming" is on that album or not, but that's what I'm thinking about.

John Lawton's amazing vocals predict Klaus Meine, and, despite the obvious roots in the Heavy Krautrock scene, this entire album seems almost peerless - although listen carefully and you can hear the strains of Black Sabbath's "War Pigs" coming through from the rhythm guitar in the slower moments.

But this really is an astonishing track for 1970, not so much proto metal as being pretty darn close to the real McCoy.

There's a strong Led Zeppelin streak running through the album, and the unmistakable sound of the riff to "Heartbreaker" is the inspiration for "Keep Goin'" - but there's a large dollop of Sabbath in there too, and influences from The Nice (a reference to their almighty version of "America" is hinted at around 2:00) - but also a unique twist. The breakdown riff around 1:30 is pure, molten metal. A monstrous track.

The excitement continues - there is a good reason why you only ever read good reviews of this album. The overall style is a tad on the samey side, but the metallic moments shine out like brightly polished steel, predating Priest's movement to the dark and shiny side by at least 6 years.

Another big highlight comes in the opening of "Baby You're A Liar", with sounds of early Motorhead mashed up with Phenomenon-era UFO. Again, this is all 5 years too early!

OK, the underlying flavour is still from the Hard Kraut Rock scene, a bit more noticeably than Sabbath, but far less so than Zep and their Blues Rock roots.

The unmistakable "Kerrrang!!!" from the rhythm guitar and those wide-vibrato tenor screams are all the cues you need from this era in metal's early development.

This is not only an important footnote, it's a major development in the metallic direction, and an essential part of any metal collection - more so than Zep or Purple, even though I think it's fair to say that this album is probably influenced by Zep, Purple, Sabbath, Uriah Heep, and by direct association, the grandfathers of metal, Spooky Tooth.
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