Lucifer’s Fall are the brainchild of Rote Mare’s founding member Phil ‘Deceiver’ Howlett, who started this project in 2013. After a demonstrational recording and a one-track EP, it was time to record the debut full length, which distribution will be done via Australian Doom-label Rotedoom Records. Together with drummer Ben ‘Unknown And Unnamed’ Dodunski (there’s a track called Deceiver, and one called Unknown Unnamed; with both members monikers, it can hardly be a coincidence, don’t you think; the song Unknown Unnamed, by the way, appeared on the demo and single), who also joined Rote Mare’s line-up, Deceiver (bass, lead and rhythm guitars, vocals, production, music and lyrics) recorded this album in The Fish Shop (with Nesta Mitchell) and home studio The Dungeon, and the result was mastered at Disk Edits with Neville Clark.
The album Lucifer’s Fall lasts for almost three quarters of an hour. The opening track The Suffering Wizard shows a first glimpse of what Lucifer’s Fall have to offer. And actually it’s quite a fine first impression. The Suffering Wizard stands for quite a mystic (Traditional) Doom epic, rooted in the Seventies / Eighties scene, including the psychedelic-melodic guitar lines, doomish rhythms, mesmerizing solos and haunting, sorrowful vocals. This Doom epos is little minimal in structure, yet penetrated with remarkable leads and an emotive persuasion. Then comes the title track, which is little different, though still recognizable. This epic is rather a mixture of Traditional Doom and Classic Heavy Metal, with a Pentagram-meet-Black Sabbath-attitude. The opening melodies and heavy bass lines in The Summoning remind me a lot to Iron Maiden (and so are many riffs and rhythms throughout the song too), but there are some groovier parts that mark this duo’s own approach. Unknown Unnamed starts very slow, but soon turns into a rhythmic Rock-anthem with an energetic drive with quite some NWOBHM-hints, rhythm-wise and qua leads. A Sinner’s Fate is a magisterial Doom-epos with riffing à la the great UK-three (think about the oldest recording by Anathema, Paradise Lost and, especially, My Dying Bride), injected with Scandinavian moments (Reverend Bizarre, Candlemass, The Wandering Midget) and a Trouble-meet-Saint Vitus-oriented execution. The first minute of Deceiver too dwells within these haunting spheres, but the ritual, groovy and little more up-tempo main part comes up with quite a lot of tribute-impression to Saint Vitus and the likes. Lucifer’s Fall ends with the instrumental track Death March, which unfortunately is the least inspirational piece on the album.