Lucifer: Worthy of the Hype?

You couldn’t blame any young metal bands that are envious of Lucifer: the “Berlin-based heavy metal blues rockers” (as a press release describes them) are on the cover of the July issue of Decibel AND have a sweet gig playing support for High on Fire coming up… despite the fact that they haven’t actually released an album yet.

Why so much hype surrounding a band that is basically untested? Simple: they’re a supergroup! Vocalist Johanna Sadonis was in the short-lived-but-much-loved The Oath, while guitarist Gary Jennings comes from Cathedral and Death Penalty.* And fair or not, supergroups get sent to the front of the line, because it’s easier to sell fans on a new project from an old favorite than it is to sell ’em on a 100% new band.

Of course, the band will still sink or swim based on their own merits and abilities (insofar as any popular band has merits or abilities). So the release of their single and video for “Izrael,” which NPR debuted earlier today, is a good chance to give them a listen for yourself and see if you think they’re the next Fantômas or the next Hellyeah. Personally, I think they’re good, but maybe not Decibel-cover good. Then again, I wasn’t totally sold on Ghost until I saw ’em live, so…

Check out “Izrael” below. Lucifer’s cleverly-titled debut, Lucifer I, comes out June 16 on Rise Above.

*NPR writes that Jennings provided “songwriting and studio input” for Lucifer’s album, but a rep for the band confirms that he is now a full-time member.