When one demon's light dims, another is illuminated. A collective "well, dammit," was heard throughout Rifflandia (not a real place, but stick with me) when The Oath called it quits, as the band's white-hot debut album barely cooled. Thankfully, vocalist Johanna Sadonis wasted no time assembling a crew rooted in the sounds of Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath.
Enter Lucifer. With songwriting and studio input from Cathedral and Death Penalty guitarist Garry Jennings, Lucifer follows the line drawn by The Oath into something leaner and more propulsive. Sadonis writes that "Izrael" is "a song about the angel of death that appeared to me in a dream." It plays with clean guitar tones struck hard, heightening the riff drama as Sadonis tames her own delivery until her wailing occult soul hits the chorus, at which point she cries out, "Ahhhh, Izrael."
In the "Izrael" video, director Chris Koll has members of Lucifer drive a stylish Buick hearse through autumnal forests, wear sweet rainbow-logo Lucifer jackets in churchyards, and sport ritualistic metal masks. Basically, it looks cool as hell.
Lucifer I comes out June 16 on Rise Above.
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