Album Review: Lucifer Star Machine - "The Devil's Breath"

 


Lucifer Star Machine seem to be one of those bands who've been plugging away on the circuit since time immemorial. The last time I encountered these German rockers was way back in 2013 with their Rock 'n' Roll Martyrs album which sounded like some righteously unholy collision between Motorhead, Turbonegro and the Hip Priests and was fine stuff indeed.

However, on The Devil's Breath, they seem to have taken an unexpected turn into more melodic territory. While vicious opener The Void seems to kick in just as heavy as they always did with the Eddie Clarke/Phil Campbell style speedfreak riffing, elsewhere it seems as though they've gone off in an almost pop-punk direction such as on Dwell In Misery, El Camino Real and Baby, When You Cry taking them into more Volbeat-esque territory (even using keyboards in places). Nowt wrong with that, I like Volbeat as well as it happens, but somehow it feels as if they've sacrificed the rawness that was their main selling point a bit. Elsewhere, A Touch Of Death goes from a frenetic nutter-thrash on the chorus to an almost Danzig style doom-rock croon verse.

It's not a bad album by any means - even if the aggro of old has been toned down a bit, Lucifer Star Machine still sound tight and lean here and there's plenty of singalong choruses and chugging riffs to get your teeth into. And it has to be said that it does get better as it goes on - the Zodiac Mindwarp style Eat Dust, the ferocious Evil Blood and the Turbonegro-gone-stadium-rock Midnight Crawler are all good stuff while the Satanic C&W lament title track closer is an unexpected curveball and all the better for it. It's just that it sounds a bit polished compared to their previous efforts and I kind of miss the scumminess of their previous efforts a little bit. Still recommended but maybe approach with slight caution.

Should you wish to investigate The Devil's Breath further (eww, that just sounded all kinds of wrong, didn't it?), you can stream or download it from the Lucifer Star Machine Bandcamp page.

NITE SONGS RATING: 🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌑🌑🌑 (7/10)

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