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Lucifer Was - Underground and Beyond CD (album) cover

UNDERGROUND AND BEYOND

Lucifer Was

 

Eclectic Prog

3.34 | 51 ratings

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apps79
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
3 stars Some dead holes in the history of this Norwegian group, as the sleeves of their debut refer to Thore Engen (guitar), Einar Bruu (bass), Dag Stenseng (vocals, flute), Anders Sevaldson (flute) and Kai Frilseth (drums) as the original crew.Sure thing is the band came from Klemetsrud near Oslo and was formed in 1969/1970 as Ezra West.However among the first members seem to be guitarist Tor Langbråten, bassist Arild Larsen and later keyboardist Jan Odegaard.Anyway, the band unfolded around 1974 after many concerts but no recordings and was reformed 20 years later with the first refered line-up.Their debut ''Underground and beyond'' was recorded in just 18 hours, just for fun, but it was good enough to earn them a contract with Swedish Record Heaven.27 years after their original formation, Lucifer Was eventually made their discography debut.

The album contains 11 tracks, that come from the 1970-72 period, now reworked by the group in the studio, however both the length and the production of the album recall the early-70's.Their sound was a powerful and very energetic blend of Hard Rock and JETHRO TULL-esque flute-led Heavy Prog with excellent English vocals and frenetic rhythmic parts, not to mention the hard driving guitar solos.The production of the album is clear, but the technology used maintains a true vintage feeling throughout.At moments the scratching guitars have a strong Proto-Metal vibe, but noone knows if this was the actual style the group performed back in the 70's.All tracks are memorable with a dominant sound, some superb choruses, fantastic flute work and series of tremendous guitar moves.A decent number of breaks and shifting tempos keeps up the progressive value of the album.The same album was re-released on Transubstans with two bonus tracks, performed by a slightly different line-up, but the sound remains more or less the same: Dynamic Hard Prog with angular guitar riffs and folky flute grooves all the way.

I am really pleased for this comeback.Lucifer Was' style seems sometime lost in the 70's, offering some really passionate Heavy/Hard Prog of high quality, respecting all the values of the old school.Strongly recommended...3.5 stars.

apps79 | 3/5 |

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