LUCIFER'S HAMMER - Time Is Death (12" LP on Blue Vinyl)
Chile | Heavy
Detailed Description
Lucifer's Hammer were originally formed in Santiago de Chile during the first months of 2013 by Hades and Titan (guitar/vocals and drums, respectively). Their aim was to create a heavy metal band inspired by the sound of the 1970s and 1980s. The two brothers recorded the first demo "Night Sacrifice", which received positive feedback and raised interest both inside and outside the country. Moving forward to 2016, now joined by Hypnos for the twin guitar work, Lucifer's Hammer recorded the long awaited first album entitled "Beyond The Omens", a successful album that showed all the potential of the Chilean heavy metal act. The characteristic sound demonstrated on the first full-length was complemented by the "Victory is Mine" EP in 2017, which explored the obscure and dynamic repertoire of the band. Now as a four-piece, with Sirius on bass, Lucifer's Hammer delivers "Time Is Death", the follow-up to "Beyond The Omens", which is about to be released on vinyl by High Roller Records. "Time Is Death" is Lucifer's Hammer's second full-length album, quite clearly a more mature effort in comparison to their debut album: "We believe that the main change has been in terms of experience. Experience has given us more insight, we got to the point where we know exactly where we want to go, and how to make our ideas become reality. Our early compositions and ideas were made just to express our visceral musical desires. We didn't question ourselves if it was wrong or right, we just wanted to explore and exploit our inner passion and drive for playing music, a sort of showcase for our convictions and thoughts. Today, we still feel the same, but we have gained more experience and now possess the will to do things better than before." Some of the songs on "Time Is Death" show influences of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, "Prisoners Of The Night" for example. Drummer Titan agrees: "As very young fellas, we fell in love with the distinctive sound of the NWOBHM: Saxon, Grim Reaper, Iron Maiden, Diamond Head, Tank, Venom, the list goes on. They're just great bands showing us the way in which we wanted to aim, the sound coming from the streets, the rawness and the obscurity, we praise and worship that style." "Traitors Of The Night" is probably the fastest number on "Time Is Death", the song does feature some very nice dual guitar harmonies as well... "Indeed, it hits you right in the face with the galloping rhythm," finds Titan. "In fact, it's one the songs we enjoy the most playing live, basically because of its dynamic structure, starting quite potent, going through an atmospheric middle section and finishing with a burst of energy. Regarding the twin guitar work, it is also one of our most noticeable composition resources, it is present throughout the entire album. Hades and Hypnos know their work and they complement each other quite confidently, making it all flow smoothly and natural. Furthermore, the sound of a galloping bass is always a solid and noticeable element of any song, several of our compositions lay on the foundation of a galloping bass, like in 'The Hammer Of The Gods', 'Traitors Of The Night', 'Thousand Nights', it is a signature that our songs will carry most of the times, besides, it's very enjoyable to play. Just like 'Traitors Of The Night', 'Garapuña' is another fast cut, and clearly the most intricate and demanding song on the album, considering the amount of rhythm changes, solos and harmonies. 'Garapuña' is slang for dagger (shiv). Our instrumental song is strongly inspired by the streets of our childhood, in the suburban neighbourhoods where we were raised, you had to deal with violence and social issues day in and day out. That's our background and one of our main sources of inspiration, people fighting for a living, their daily sacrifices and efforts present them with opportunities, despite the social inequality, a constant struggle, by the way. The streets made us what we are and forged our heavy metal, 'Garapuña' is the best example for that." Coming from Chile, it has been quite hard for Lucifer's Hammer to get a proper album deal in the first place: "For a band from Europe or North America of course things become more accessible, as for record deals and tours, and even making a career as musicians is possible. Here in our country the reality is totally different. The road is always uphill, you have to fight for this 'jolly' dream to become true, fight against the odds and all kinds of limitations. Artists of any kind don't get the necessary recognition nor the support, and are treated like outsiders by the rest of society, marginalized and often looked down upon, with a few exceptions. Recording is also an issue, bands can scarcely afford paying for a quality recording, since the cost is high. Anyway, any band can record an album from time to time, however, getting the attention and the good deals is not that common and quite hard to find." "The heavy metal scene in Chile is still young and has not taken off as yet," continues Titan. "It lacks the booming of the thrash, black or death metal scenes, there's not that many bands out there in comparison to the number of bands from the aforementioned scenes. Most of the times we use to play with bands from the extreme metal scene which is quite common, due to the same fact. Of course, there's also this small heavy metal scene and there are some other bands that have enough merits to be recognized abroad. The places where the bands play are usually local bars or small venues where the connection and feedback with the crowd is more intense and close. The organization of open air festivals is also frequent and has been on the rise over the last few years, emerging from the underground. Places where to buy music are scarce and not that cheap, however, trading and the underground labels make music more accessible. Chile's trademark is the totally insane, loud, savage and vicious crowd, with a strong tendency to drink alcohol like there is no tomorrow, which is always visible every time a foreign metal band sets foot upon the country." Matthias Mader
