Luciferion The Apostate
Listenable Records posh049 01/09/03
By Paddy Walsh
Many would have considered Luciferion lost within the annals of metal - their last release, "Demonification", was in 1996! So it will probably come as something of a surprise to those who remember the band from back then to see them resurface with some new material in the form of "The Apostate". This serving of Swedish death metal comprises five new songs, a Celtic Frost cover, and some demo material from 1994.
So, the new stuff. A very good, well produced collection of satisfyingly heavy, yet slightly melodic, Swedish death metal. The guitars are quite technical in places, and solos are commonplace. Its all very well written and compotently played, particularly the solos, and there are even some keyboard flourishes. These serve to underpin the heaviness of the guitars, wisely left understated, and, in doing so, avoiding the mistake that many of their contemporaries make by giving them precedence. Unfortunately, the new material is quite short, with the five songs coming to just over 30 minutes in length. This wouldnt be such a problem, were it not for the fact that the band saw fit to include samples from some film throughout (the first track is simply 3 minutes of this, so in reality there are only four actual songs). Hence there isnt enough new material on here to make this an essential purchase.
The cover of Celtic Frosts Circle of the Tyrants is somewhat derivative, although (rather predictably) well played, which leads us onto the five demos tracks from 1994. These are, in fact, rather good (if under produced), and show a more brutal incarnation of the band. They are far from stellar however, and Luciferion would have been much better off recording a few more new songs instead. As it stands, "The Apostate" is a worthy release; the new material is stunning in places, but as I said before, there simply isnt enough of it. Its still better than most death metal coming out of Sweden these days however, and if you can stomach the lack of new songs, then this is definitely for you.
7/10
Listenable Records Website
Listenable Records posh049 01/09/03
By Paddy Walsh
Many would have considered Luciferion lost within the annals of metal - their last release, "Demonification", was in 1996! So it will probably come as something of a surprise to those who remember the band from back then to see them resurface with some new material in the form of "The Apostate". This serving of Swedish death metal comprises five new songs, a Celtic Frost cover, and some demo material from 1994.
So, the new stuff. A very good, well produced collection of satisfyingly heavy, yet slightly melodic, Swedish death metal. The guitars are quite technical in places, and solos are commonplace. Its all very well written and compotently played, particularly the solos, and there are even some keyboard flourishes. These serve to underpin the heaviness of the guitars, wisely left understated, and, in doing so, avoiding the mistake that many of their contemporaries make by giving them precedence. Unfortunately, the new material is quite short, with the five songs coming to just over 30 minutes in length. This wouldnt be such a problem, were it not for the fact that the band saw fit to include samples from some film throughout (the first track is simply 3 minutes of this, so in reality there are only four actual songs). Hence there isnt enough new material on here to make this an essential purchase.
The cover of Celtic Frosts Circle of the Tyrants is somewhat derivative, although (rather predictably) well played, which leads us onto the five demos tracks from 1994. These are, in fact, rather good (if under produced), and show a more brutal incarnation of the band. They are far from stellar however, and Luciferion would have been much better off recording a few more new songs instead. As it stands, "The Apostate" is a worthy release; the new material is stunning in places, but as I said before, there simply isnt enough of it. Its still better than most death metal coming out of Sweden these days however, and if you can stomach the lack of new songs, then this is definitely for you.
7/10
Listenable Records Website
Quality album, shame there's so little original material. I love the Dark City samples used throughout the new songs, really works well.
