Apparently the Norwegians have their musical comebacks too. Lucifer Was began their activity back in 1969 and were active until the middle of 70’s. Then, for more than 20 years the world stopped hearing of them but thanks to one of original line-up’s members, who discovered a tape with old recordings in his archives, the band’s reactivation and reinforcement happened. In 1997 album “Undergound & Beyond” saw the light of day, which was in fact a debut album of Lucifer Was. Then, in 2000 the second album “In Anadi’s Bower” was released, and in 2005 – the third one – “Blues From Hellah”.
In May 2007 Record Heaven label released the latest work of Norwegian hard rock veterans: “The Divine Tree” CD. It consists of 6 tracks, which length is between 6 and 11 minutes and which are kept in classic hard rock style from the 70’s. The band refer clearly and unambiguously to the era when groups such as Uriah Heep, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple reigned in the charts. They use classical analog instruments (B3 Hammond, mellotron, Fender Stratocaster, etc.), play as if they didn’t care about the passing time and surely all the fans of pure rock variety will surely like their music. Expressive Jon Ruder’s vocal, mellow sound of Thore Engen’s and Freddy Lindquist’s (NB: previously known from group Vanquards in which he played until recently) guitars and wonderful Arne Martinussen’s parts who plays Hammond organ – all of that intensifies a very good impression that lingers after listening to “The Divine Tree”. It is clearly audible that there are experienced musicians who can play; you could even say that these Scandinavian rock veterans are kind of hard rock virtuosos and know what good melodic rock playing is about.
I really recommend listening to this album in a thorough way because it is full of interesting sounds and melodies. If anybody wanted to listen to the sample of Lucifer Was’ music, he/she should visit the band’s MySpace website www.myspace.com/transubstans, where one can download the track entitled “On Earth” (for free). Maybe it is not the best recording from “The Divine Tree”, but I’m sure that listening to it will be sufficient to feel encouraged to reach for the whole CD.
