Lucifer's Friend (GER)

[Horex]

Lucifer's Friend - Awakening (2CD) (2015)













Year : 2015
Style : Hard Rock , Classic Rock
Country : Germany
Audio : 320 kbps + all scans
Size : 111 mb

Bio:

Lucifer's Friend are a German rock band, formed in Hamburg in 1970 by guitarist Peter Hesslein, singer John Lawton, bassist Dieter Horns, keyboardist Peter Hecht, and drummer Joachim Reitenbach. The group were noted as early practitioners of heavy metal and progressive rock,they also incorporated elements of jazz into their music, especially in their fourth album Banquet of 1974.Furthermore heavy metal, the band have been cited too as one of the pioneers of doom metal, helping to define both genres due to their heavy sound and dark oriented lyrics of their acclaimed debut Lucifer's Friend of 1970,[3] and returning to their roots in 1981 with Mean Machine, although more influenced by speed metal.In 1969 after a tour with his past band called Stonewall, the British-born singer John Lawton went to live to Germany, there he met Peter Hesslein, Dieter Horns, Peter Hecht, and Joachim Reitenbach, they were members of a band called The German Bonds, the five joined together to record an album under the band name of Asterix in 1970 and soon they changed their name to Lucifer's Friend, continuing their career under that name onwards.The early albums were released on the Vertigo Records label in Europe, but in the United States those albums were released on a series of small independent record labels (Billingsgate, Janus, Passport), often a year or more after their release in Europe. Thus, despite airplay in some markets and a cult following, the band's albums were hard to find and commercial success eluded them. The band was finally signed to Elektra Records in the late 1970s who released three albums with a more commercial pop oriented sound, but by then interest in the band had waned; those albums were even less successful than the earlier ones.Lucifer's Friend was known for changing musical styles and influences on each album. The self-titled 1970 debut had dark lyrics and a stripped-down guitar and organ style and sounded similar to Deep Purple, Uriah Heep, Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath[citation needed]. That album is still sought after by fans of early heavy metal music.The second album, Where the Groupies Killed the Blues (1972), took an entirely different direction; it was a very experimental album of progressive and psychedelic rock, mostly composed by John O'Brien Docker. On the third album, I'm Just a Rock & Roll Singer (1973), they changed direction again, this time in the straightforward rock style popularized by such groups as Grand Funk Railroad, and gritty "life on the road" themes in the lyrics.Banquet (1974) featured extended, multi-layered jazz fusion compositions and a 30-piece backup band, alternating with some shorter tracks reminiscent of Chicago and Traffic. Those first four albums are all concept albums of a sort and along with the self-titled Asterix album are the most sought after today.Mind Exploding (1976) established a holding pattern and tried to combine the jazz of Banquet with the garage-rock of Rock & Roll Singer, but was not as well received as the earlier albums. Vocalist John Lawton left in 1976 to join Uriah Heep and was replaced by Mike Starrs, former vocalist with Colosseum II. John Lawton returned for the 1981 album Mean Machine. On the two albums without Lawton they moved to a more commercial sound, on 1978's Good Time Warrior and 1980s Sneak Me In.John Lawton's 1980 solo album on RCA, Heartbeat, was a Lucifer's Friend album in everything but name, with the lineup from Sneak Me In performing as backup musicians on that project. Lawton's official return, Mean Machine, found the band returning to heavy metal, this time in the vein of Rainbow and NWOBHM. The band officially broke up in 1982 but thirteen years later, in 1994 John and Peter Hesslein briefly reformed to release a new CD, Sumo Grip under the name of Lucifer's Friend II, with Curt Cress, Andreas Dicke, Jogi Wichmann and Udo Dahmen replacing the classic line-up. After this they broke up once more.Although John Lawton stated that the crew weren't interested in getting back to record or perform live again,in August of 2014 he published the news in his website of an eventual reunion with the original line-up to play in some dates of 2015 including Sweden Rock Festival in June,after almost 40 years since their last gig together. Also they will release a new compilation album called Awakening in April 6th followed by four new tracks.Due the decease of their original drummer Joachim "Addi" Rietenbach a few years ago, his position is now occupied by Stephan Eggert, also the original keyboardist Peter Hecht refused to participate in the reunion, due this the guitarist Peter Hesslein recorded the keyboard tapes in the new album, hiring once again Jogi Wichmann (who played in Sumo Grip) as the live keyboardist for the upcoming schedule in 2015 and 2016.

Line Up:

John Lawton - Lead Vocals (ex-Zar, ex-Asterix, ex-GunHill, ex-Uriah Heep, ex-John Lawton, ex-Les Humphries Singers, ex-Rebel, ex-Stonewall)
Peter Hesslein - Guitar (ex-Asterix, ex-Brother T & Family, ex-David Frank Selection, ex-Electric Food)
Dieter Horns - Bass (ex-Asterix, ex-Bokaj Retsiem, ex-Brother T & Family, ex-Electric Food, ex-German Bonds)
Stephan Eggert - Drums

Tracklist:

CD1:

01. Ride the Sky
02. In the Time of Job
03. Keep Going
04. Toxic Shadows
05. Burning Ships
06. Fugitive
07. Moonshine Rider
08. Dirty Old Town
09. Fire and Rain
10. Hey Driver

CD2: Bonus CD

01. Pray
02. Riding High
03. Did You Ever
04. This Road



Download links for all albums only on our blog here: http://goodmetalandhar.do.am/

[Horex]

Lucifer`s Friend - Too Late To Hate (2016)













Year : 2016
Style : Hard Rock , Classic Rock
Country : Germany
Audio : 320 kbps + all scans
Size : 111 mb

Bio:

Lucifer's Friend are a German rock band, formed in Hamburg in 1970 by guitarist Peter Hesslein, singer John Lawton, bassist Dieter Horns, keyboardist Peter Hecht, and drummer Joachim Reitenbach. The group were noted as early practitioners of heavy metal and progressive rock,they also incorporated elements of jazz into their music, especially in their fourth album Banquet of 1974.Furthermore heavy metal, the band have been cited too as one of the pioneers of doom metal, helping to define both genres due to their heavy sound and dark oriented lyrics of their acclaimed debut Lucifer's Friend of 1970,[3] and returning to their roots in 1981 with Mean Machine, although more influenced by speed metal.In 1969 after a tour with his past band called Stonewall, the British-born singer John Lawton went to live to Germany, there he met Peter Hesslein, Dieter Horns, Peter Hecht, and Joachim Reitenbach, they were members of a band called The German Bonds, the five joined together to record an album under the band name of Asterix in 1970 and soon they changed their name to Lucifer's Friend, continuing their career under that name onwards.The early albums were released on the Vertigo Records label in Europe, but in the United States those albums were released on a series of small independent record labels (Billingsgate, Janus, Passport), often a year or more after their release in Europe. Thus, despite airplay in some markets and a cult following, the band's albums were hard to find and commercial success eluded them. The band was finally signed to Elektra Records in the late 1970s who released three albums with a more commercial pop oriented sound, but by then interest in the band had waned; those albums were even less successful than the earlier ones.Lucifer's Friend was known for changing musical styles and influences on each album. The self-titled 1970 debut had dark lyrics and a stripped-down guitar and organ style and sounded similar to Deep Purple, Uriah Heep, Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath[citation needed]. That album is still sought after by fans of early heavy metal music.The second album, Where the Groupies Killed the Blues (1972), took an entirely different direction; it was a very experimental album of progressive and psychedelic rock, mostly composed by John O'Brien Docker. On the third album, I'm Just a Rock & Roll Singer (1973), they changed direction again, this time in the straightforward rock style popularized by such groups as Grand Funk Railroad, and gritty "life on the road" themes in the lyrics.Banquet (1974) featured extended, multi-layered jazz fusion compositions and a 30-piece backup band, alternating with some shorter tracks reminiscent of Chicago and Traffic. Those first four albums are all concept albums of a sort and along with the self-titled Asterix album are the most sought after today.Mind Exploding (1976) established a holding pattern and tried to combine the jazz of Banquet with the garage-rock of Rock & Roll Singer, but was not as well received as the earlier albums. Vocalist John Lawton left in 1976 to join Uriah Heep and was replaced by Mike Starrs, former vocalist with Colosseum II. John Lawton returned for the 1981 album Mean Machine. On the two albums without Lawton they moved to a more commercial sound, on 1978's Good Time Warrior and 1980s Sneak Me In.John Lawton's 1980 solo album on RCA, Heartbeat, was a Lucifer's Friend album in everything but name, with the lineup from Sneak Me In performing as backup musicians on that project. Lawton's official return, Mean Machine, found the band returning to heavy metal, this time in the vein of Rainbow and NWOBHM. The band officially broke up in 1982 but thirteen years later, in 1994 John and Peter Hesslein briefly reformed to release a new CD, Sumo Grip under the name of Lucifer's Friend II, with Curt Cress, Andreas Dicke, Jogi Wichmann and Udo Dahmen replacing the classic line-up. After this they broke up once more.Although John Lawton stated that the crew weren't interested in getting back to record or perform live again,in August of 2014 he published the news in his website of an eventual reunion with the original line-up to play in some dates of 2015 including Sweden Rock Festival in June,after almost 40 years since their last gig together. Also they will release a new compilation album called Awakening in April 6th followed by four new tracks.Due the decease of their original drummer Joachim "Addi" Rietenbach a few years ago, his position is now occupied by Stephan Eggert, also the original keyboardist Peter Hecht refused to participate in the reunion, due this the guitarist Peter Hesslein recorded the keyboard tapes in the new album, hiring once again Jogi Wichmann (who played in Sumo Grip) as the live keyboardist for the upcoming schedule in 2015 and 2016.

Album:

They're back!!! Too Late to Hate is the first studio album of all new material from the British/German hard rock/prog act Lucifer's Friend since 1981, and comes just one year after their reunion in 2015. Featuring the classic line up trio of Peter Hesslein (guitar), Dieter Horns (bass), and John Lawton (lead vocals, ex-Uriah Heep), the band is rounded out by Jogi Wichmann (keyboards) and Stephan Eggert (drums). With a host of live festival appearances, a live album, and a best-of compilation featuring a few new songs, the last year has been busy for this classic band, all culminating in this welcome studio album return.Lucifer's Friend were always one of those groups that kept their fans guessing from album to album, blending many styles into a hard hitting yet melodic sound that still sounds fresh today. Lawton's vocals are as impressive as always, as he soars over majestic hard rockers "Jokers & Fools", "Straight for the Heart", and "When Children Cry", Hesslein's riffs thick & crunchy and Wichmann's array of synths and organ providing for plenty of proggy goodness. "Tell Me Why" is an upbeat Deep Purple/Uriah Heep styled heavy rocker, and the band ups the groove factor for the melodic yet quite hard rocking "Don't Talk to Strangers". You'll be taken right back to the '80s with "I Will Be There", a catchy slice of hook laden melodic rock, as well as the emotional ballad "Tears", but the real highlight here is the snarling heavy rock cut "Sea of Promises", fueled by rampaging Hammond organ, heavy riffs, synths, tasty lead guitar, and Lawton's potent vocals. Fans of classic Lucifer's Friend material from the '70s, as well as Deep Purple and Uriah Heep, will love this dramatic, heavy hitting song. "Brother's Without a Name" and "Demolition Man" also both rock quite hard, though the latter has a bizarre little rap section by Lawton that we probably could have done without.As the first new studio album since 1981's Mean Machine (if you don't count 1994's Sumo Grip, which though under the name Lucifer's Friend II, featured three of the current members), Too Late to Hate is a resounding success. The band have written new material that draws on both their '70s and '80s era, yet also injects some modern influences for a style that works on all levels. Lawton still can sing with them best of them, and the band overall are firing on all cylinders. Now, if they can finally bring themselves over to the US for some live shows things will really start to get interesting. Well done, and welcome back!

Line Up:

John Lawton - vocals (1968-1976, 1981-1982, 1994, 2014–present)
Peter Hesslein - guitar (1968-1982, 1994, 2014–present)
Dieter Horns - bass (1968-1982, 2014–present)
Jogi Wichmann - keyboards (1994, 2015–present)
Stephan Eggert - drums (2014–present)

Tracklist:

01. Demolition Man
02. Jokers & Fools
03. When Children Cry
04. Straight for the Heart
05. Tell Me Why
06. Don’t Talk to Strangers
07. I Will Be There
08. This Time
09. Tears
10. Sea of Promises
11. Brothers Without a Name
12. When You’re Gone (Live)



Download links for all albums only on our blog here: http://goodmetalandhar.do.am/