German Epic Heavy Metal trio LUZIFER took their time crafting one of the most impressive debut albums I have heard in a long time, so let’s get some insights directly from the source!
1. Greetings LUZIFER! As a trio, all of you are very active musicians so please introduce yourselves, and feel free to plug your other bands!
Stefan: Hey! Luzifer’s consisting of Gereon on Drums and Backing Vocals, Leo is doing the bass and I play guitar and do the vocals. Luzifer’s kind of a side project to our main band VULTURE. Besides that, Gereon’s also active in BLIZZEN.
2. Now we got the greetings locked in, let’s get right into what we’re here for! So first up, you possess a real Heavy Metal sound, I mean straight from the golden days. But you don’t sound like a rip-off of a single sound (like German or US Power Metal for example). Who are your main influences, name some legends and obscure gems that fuel the fires of LUZIFER!
Stefan: It feels very tough for me to name a handful of bands that I’d call our main influences. Sort of everything we listen to has an impact on us and also everything we’re not doing with VULTURE seems appealing right away, haha. But if you want me to drop some names I’d go with Heavy Load, Quartz, Rocker, maybe Mercyful Fate or even Ghost here and there.
3. Talking of you being old-schoolers, you started your recorded career with 2 7-inch EP’s, the proper way in my book! What legacy, importance or significance does physical music (be it vinyl, CD, tape or whatever) hold to you as a band and to Heavy Metal as a whole?
Stefan: I guess we couldn’t be more different there. Leo for example has a giant LP collection and is really living that whole collector’s life. For me it’s not that important. I mainly listen to music in the car to be honest. So i mainly by newer stuff when I want to support the bands and started sleeping a little on adding missing classics to my collection. I moved quite some times in the last 10 years and damned every single LP i bought every single time, haha. Besides that, of course vinyl is the most dedicated and soul-filled format for the kind of music we’re doing!
4. Your debut LP, which I had the pleasure to review, is truly a monstrous first full-length which I think fans of true Metal are going to love, the world over. What went into this, in terms of inspiration, how the songwriting occurred and the production and art too (which fit the record like a gauntlet)?
Stefan: Everything was done pretty quick. We started gathering few ideas in 2018, but the main songwriting was done in early spring and summer last year. We recorded stuff right away. So this whole album is more or less the result of a few very busy months. We recorded everything with HELLFORGE’s Marco Brinkmann, just as usual. This time he took his mobile studio to our rehearsal room. We had to switch to my flat after a couple songs of vocal recording because the band next door started recording drums, haha. So as you see everything was very easy-minded. No stress, no troubles.
5. The attention to detail on the record is just sublime. No garish gimmicks, just fantastic musicianship and passionate delivery. Which bands do you think carry the Heavy Metal flag with such elegance in the modern world? There has been a huge rise in bands going back to the roots of the genre, but which do you feel stand above the rest?
Stefan: A lot! Hällas! Black Magic! Antichrist! Kontact!
6. As a German band, you hail from a land with a strong connection to Heavy Metal history. Does being a German band give any specific advantages (with regard to social climate through to touring or any other small but potentially significant details in being in a Metal band such as close proximity to many record labels / other bands)?
Stefan: We have a very vivid scene and we all grew up with easy access to Heavy Metal, may it be peer-group wise or concert-wise or what so ever. That’s definitely a big advantage in terms of connecting, I guess.
7. There has hardly been a rush from you to get release after release out. Forming in 2009, with an EP in 2015, a 2nd in 2018 and waiting ’til 2022 (13 years from forming) for your debut LP. Is this due to extremely high standards, busy schedules or something else? What makes a LUZIFER record such a long process and has it paid off thus far?
Stefan: For us, Luzifer is something we reach to when we feel like it. It started in 2009 with several attempts, different line ups and a few very horrible demos and then we just took our shot with the RISE EP. After that it just was like: „Let’s do some Luzifer?“ „Why not!“ Of course, we are all stuck in our daily jobs and VULTURE’s eating up nearly all our free time. So that’s the only approach we’re able to take.
8. One thing I found interesting and maybe a bit more “authentic” about the sound of LUZIFER is that you seem to have a wider scope of influences. On the album there seems to be some hard and progressive rock and maybe even something a bit more black or death-tinged (at least in atmosphere). Could you shed some light on which other veins of Metal / Rock music you prefer aside from the straight-up HEAVY stuff!
Stefan: Music’s just gotta be good. Don’t care too much about what genre it is, now that I grow older, haha. So we’re able to rock out to THIN LIZZY, than blast SODOM and afterwards dance to MR. FLAGIO, haha. All of that finds it’s way into our music in some way. Best example for that might be our JOACHIM WITT cover!
9. Last of all, what’s next? Presuming we will have a while to wait for new music following your track record (which is fine if the quality is so great), will you be hitting the road or focussing on your other bands? The stage is yours to prepare us for the quest ahead!
Stefan: Nothing’s coming next I guess! We’re happy to release the record. Can’t wait for feedback about it and then we keep on doing VULTURE. Maybe we’ll gather again to do more LUZIFER at some point. We’ll see
