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Luciferion: The apostate

02/08/11 || Habakuk

This album appears to have been written by the most self-absorbed asshole that ever walked the earth. I say “appears”, for I don’t know the guy by the name of Wojtek Lisicki, but the signs increase the longer you hold this CD. It’s even got the Wojtek Lisicki Magic stamp of approval with sword printed on the outside, so that even those who have not heard about Luciferion know that this must be good, for it carries the name of the Maestro himself, the legendary Wojtek. And he’s only too right in dishing out a special thanx to himself (“like usually”) first and foremost in the booklet credits, before he enlightens us about “Dark City” being an overlooked classic movie and why Luciferion no longer have the pentagram in their logo. Who’d have thunk!

With all that in mind, it’s almost a shame that his album is fucken awesome. Well, except for a lot of painfully overstretched “Dark City” quotes, at least. Split into two parts, the first one holding 28 minutes of main material and a Celtic Frost cover, the second one being remastered demo recordings, it’s hard for me to pick a favorite, as both are pretty fucken boss. What Wojtek “procreated and revealed to this world” (thanks.) is engaging, intelligent, vicious death metal with a sense for groove and speed just as well as melody. Now when you go out for some research you’ll find the band is from Gothenburg. Despair not. In spite of their descent, the band sound nothing like what you’d expect, although they spice up their super-tight Deicide riffing with the odd melodic lead once in a while. Well, not that kind of melody, then. Hell, there even are keyboards sometimes, but they take a clear backseat to the monstrous, slightly thrashy, first class death metal riffing. And if nothing can persuade you, just focus on the bad-ass drumming with great double-bass and blast usage or, even better, the combination of all the mentioned elements, like for example showcased in the progression of “New world to see”‘s middle section, which really encapsules the versatility and awesomeness of the album’s sound in roundabout 2 minutes. Superior lead work, heavy drumming and songwriting that elevates it above a mere tech show. Oh yeah, and the grunted vocals aren’t half bad either.

Downsides? The whole thing sounds a bit pro-tooled, admittedly. Not sterile yet, but definitely not very organic. Since I’m not a sound engineer nor interested in becoming one, I can however disregard this easily with a quality feast like this. Also, it might be possible that the transition from new to old material via a cover song (itself not being the best I’ve heard) is a bit jumpy. Nevertheless, when judged by themselves, both parts, the cleaner, tight “album” half and the more basic, Deicidish, vicious second “demo” half with material off the album’s predecessor (which I am yet to hear) are great in their own right.

So, if you have never heard this band, why not start here? Let me assure you they’re wearing the esteemed “Wojtek Lisicki Magic” badge with pride and truly shouldn’t be missed by anyone into almost any kind of death metal.

8.5

Information
Released: 2003
Label: Listenable Records
Website: luciferion.com
Band
Wojtek Lisicki: vocals, guitars
Michael Nicklasson: guitars
Martin Furängen: bass
Hans Nilsson: drums

Tracklist
01. Intro
02. The Apostate
03. Become or be gone
04. Destroying by will
05. New world to see
06. Circle of the tyrants
07. Rebel souls
08. The voyager
09. Satan’s gift (the crown of thorns)
10. Graced by fire
11. Hymns of immortals

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