1 year ago
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Just successful clip for Halloween, metal’s wicked rockers Lucifer are backmost with a phenomenal caller album, 1 with artwork that transforms ‘an representation of being a victim’ into 1 of defiant power.
Lucifer IV is 1 of those uncommon times that you tin justice a publication by its cover. In this case, the screen belongs to Lucifer‘s latest full-length, arriving 2 days earlier Halloween. With vocalist Johanna Sadonis illuminated successful reddish portion bound to a woody transverse against a black, featureless background, the album’s artwork is stunning, astir chilling at archetypal glance. “Well, I had the idea,” Johanna says to HollywoodLife, arsenic she and Nicke Anderson spoke astir the caller release. “I’ve seen different women connected crosses, and I ever recovered that precise striking. There’s a celebrated picture of Diamanda Galás changeable by Annie Leibovitz. And determination is Madonna famously connected the transverse connected a tour, you know, wherever they assistance her, and she sings, ‘Live To Tell.’ I deliberation it’s truthful striking due to the fact that radical are truthful utilized to Jesus connected the cross. And women utilized to beryllium enactment connected crosses arsenic witches. To crook this into a almighty image, alternatively of an representation of being a victim, I thought, is simply a large thought for an medium cover.”
“And possibly also, a small spot daring, you know, and I deliberation you request that successful rock,” she says. “You request a bully medium screen to instrumentality retired of the grounds shelf. I besides thought, too it being a striking image, it’s personally–it’s a small spot my ‘f-ck you’ to the patriarchy. Because, arsenic you tin astir apt imagine, arsenic a woman, sometimes it’s not truthful casual successful euphony — successful the satellite successful general, but particularly successful music.”
It’s a superb portion of art, its magnificence is lone amplified by the equally-incredible euphony within. Lucifer IV sees the set – Johanna, Nicke, Martin Nordin, Linus Björklund, and Harald Göthblad – unleash different installment of their 70’s-inspired, modern metallic sound. It’s a phenomenal record, 1 wherever Lucifer accentuates what makes them peculiar successful the satellite of stone today. The drums deed harder, the guitars soar higher, the vocals electrify, and the songs are classics successful the making. Lucifer rocks on Lucifer IV portion touching connected themes astir morbid covenants (“Wild Hearses”), witchcraft (“Crucifix (I Burn For You”), pagan gods (“Nightmare,” “Phobos”), and decease (“Mausoleum”) and betrayal (“Cold As A Tombstone.”)
These are not unfamiliar subjects for Lucifer. “I deliberation for america it’s hard to measurement extracurricular of our ain box,” says Johanna, “because I deliberation these themes person ever been subjects to Lucifer’s lyrics. Maybe they’re much salient connected the caller album, possibly the caller 2 albums? But I conjecture the devil is conscionable much amusive due to the fact that the devil stands for each the amusive things successful beingness oregon the things you’re not expected to do.”
“Lucifer’s not truly a conception band,” she adds. “Everything is going a small spot by gut feeling, truthful things magically autumn into place, similar puzzle pieces. Sometimes I don’t adjacent cognize wherever they’re coming from.” Much similar each bully art, Lucifer IV treads that razor-thin enactment betwixt idiosyncratic and universal. It’s casual to perceive to the medium and construe it immoderate fixed way. When Johanna sings astir “one to acceptable maine connected the cross,” is it the aforesaid 1 from the preceding song? Is determination a moving thread of souls who’ve “taken the vow” for immortality, lone to find occurrence and pain? That is for the listener to decide.
“It wasn’t similar we sat down and said, ‘okay, let’s marque a truly acheronian medium revolving astir witchcraft,'” says Johanna. “It conscionable benignant of happens truthful to be. All the lyrics are precise personal, but I similar to wrapper them up into these metaphors that acceptable wrong the Lucifer framework due to the fact that it’s conscionable much fun. I deliberation if I would crockery retired my idiosyncratic stories arsenic blunt arsenic they were successful existent life, it would astir apt beryllium cheesy, boring, oregon whatever. But if you tin spice it up with metaphors oregon symbols that basal for definite figures successful life. I deliberation that’s mode much absorbing due to the fact that it gives listeners a benignant of canvas wherever they tin task their ain feelings oregon associations onto it.”
“As a euphony fan,” she says, “when I perceive to an medium oregon a song, I privation to find thing wherever I tin get my hooks successful and wherever I tin subordinate to it. It empowers me, oregon it comforts me, oregon immoderate you are looking for successful a song. I anticipation I tin bash that to people. For me, it’s a large mode to enactment done stuff. It’s benignant of similar my idiosyncratic diary. It’s similar therapy, penning stuff, you get it retired there, and past you enactment done it, and you tin determination on.”
One could accidental that Lucifer IV is a triumph that arose retired of tragedy. The set released Lucifer III successful March 2020, close arsenic the COVID-19 pandemic unopen the satellite down. Impossible to circuit their caller record, Lucifer went backmost into the workplace and began moving connected different album, 1 that would beryllium divorced from the hellscape that was 2020. “I don’t deliberation we thought astir the pandemic erstwhile we wrote the album,” says Nicke. “I don’t constitute immoderate lyrics for Lucifer, but erstwhile I play music… That’s successful my bubble, adjacent though it relates to the remainder of thing that touches maine oregon inspires me. It seems similar if we would’ve started reasoning and singing astir the pandemic, past the medium would beryllium –”
“–an medium astir the plague,” says Johanna.
“Yeah, but besides not arsenic timeless arsenic we privation it to be,” added Nicke. “I deliberation with Johanna’s lyrics, they’re lyrics I similar to work and perceive to due to the fact that they’re not ace evident into a precise circumstantial subject. You tin subordinate to it. I mean, I tin subordinate to it, and I’m not a woman, and that shouldn’t beryllium the happening here. I deliberation that’s why, erstwhile lyrics, successful general, go excessively specific, past it’s not up for interpretation. I similar an elusive framework for radical to perceive their ain interpretations.”
The 2 besides noted that erstwhile it comes to creating their art, they debar focusing connected the day-to-day tragedies, particularly the changeless crises that accompanied the COVID-19 pandemic. “When you write, you privation to escape, and it’s a large instrumentality to instrumentality your caput disconnected things. That’s astir apt besides wherefore it was a alleviation to deliberation of thing antithetic than the pandemic,” added Johanna.
Perhaps that’s 1 of the undeniable themes of Lucifer IV: Fun. Lucifer channels the dependable that commencement dense metal, the primordial spirits of that mystical era, portion infusing it with a caller position and slayer hooks. “Mausoleum” was made for headbanging (“I’m really precise arrogant of Mausoleum due to the fact that it’s my archetypal opus that I wrote alone,” shares Johanna.) “Wild Hearses” is simply a must-have for immoderate roadworthy travel playlist. “Bring Me His Head” could beryllium played successful immoderate nightclub, and idiosyncratic would commencement dancing.
Lucifer whitethorn instrumentality their euphony seriously, but they besides marque definite not to instrumentality themselves too seriously. “The full happening with Satan, it’s expected to beryllium fun,” says Nicke. “That’s the mode I saw it. I ne'er got those bands who are pretentiously superior astir Satan. Come on.”
“It conscionable becomes silly and ridiculous,” adds Johanna. “You know, if you can’t incorporated wit into it a small bit… I mean, you don’t privation to beryllium a gag band, but astatine heart, we are stone and rollers. That’s conscionable however it is, and determination has to beryllium wit successful it. It’s capable Spinal Tap arsenic it is.”
Lucifer IV may person humor, but it has immoderate chops. One could accidental the medium is the set astatine its finest. The radical knows itself and afloat embraced its dependable connected this record. “This is the archetypal medium wherever we really — possibly it’s due to the fact that of the pandemic,” says Nicke, “when we’ve done the demos, we went done the songs unneurotic arsenic a set successful the rehearsal place. Whereas, connected the different albums, arsenic soon arsenic we had a demo ready, I conscionable went successful and recorded the drums myself due to the fact that we wanted to get it done.”
This clip around, Lucifer gave the demos a accidental to breathe. “By having the set coming unneurotic and playing those songs and rehearsing them earlier going into the workplace and signaling them,” says Johanna, “they mightiness gel otherwise due to the fact that past you person clip to reassess, for example, if the tempo is close oregon to find the close groove for a song, which you don’t truly bash erstwhile you grounds it consecutive away. Now, due to the fact that of the pandemic, we had that clip to bash that.”
They besides experimented a bit. “Maybe it feels similar the lighter parts are lighter, for example, due to the fact that we did incorporated immoderate parts successful major,” she says. “On 2 songs,” adds Nicke. “We person ne'er done before.”
With the grounds done, each that’s near to bash is get backmost connected the road. The set has announced a European circuit successful November, with a 2nd limb successful February. “In November, it volition person been astir 2 years,” says Johanna. “We are trying to shingle disconnected the beingness rustiness. I mean, we are rehearsing present and there, but you can’t rehearse playing a show. I can’t hold to get backmost to it due to the fact that the past tour, which was a U.S. Tour successful the confederate U.S. states — was successful January 2020. By that time, it felt similar we were truly connected a rotation due to the fact that we’ve been touring a lot, and everything gelled. You suffer that erstwhile you don’t play unrecorded for specified a agelong time.”
“It’s a small scary, but I’m besides precise excited to get backmost retired due to the fact that it is antithetic erstwhile you get immoderate benignant of chemistry from an existent audience,” she adds. “Right now, we are isolated from that still. Social media is 1 thing, but to spot radical really respond to your music? That’s special.”
Lucifer IV arrives connected Oct. 29.
English (US)