Album Review: Lucifer Star Machine – Devil’s Breath

I will admit that an album called “Devil’s Breath” from a band called Lucifer Star Machine is not something I would normally give a second glance to, it conjures up images of some of the worst elements of the heavy metal scene, a judgement that Łukasz Jaszak‘s vintage horror cover art doesn’t go anyway to dispelling, but if nothing else this album is a lesson in not making snap judgements and keeping an open mind. “Devil’s Breath” is the Hamburg based outfit’s fourth full length, it follows on from 2013’s “Rock ‘n Roll Martyrs” and is their first for their new new label, Sweden’s The Sign Records, and is also their first full length with their post reformation line up.

The opening track ‘The Void‘ tips you straight into a pummelling hardcore crossover, from here the album ebbs and flows with different influences taking the lead, at it’s heart this is a rock album, but it’s thankfully shorn of the bullshit and excess that too many bands happily indulge in. With the sole exception of the album’s somewhat unexpected acoustic title track, that is the last exhalation from “Devil’s Breath“, this is full tilt rock ‘n roll that sits between genres. Lucifer Star Machine deliver a high-energy blend of rock, metal, punk and rock ‘n roll with a sound that has the likes of Zodiac Mindwarp, Motörhead, Ramones, Social Distortion, Volbeat, The Supersuckers and Turbonegro buried deep in it’s DNA

Along with international contemporaries such as The Hip Priests, Deathtraps, The Drippers, West Thebarton and “Demons”, Lucifer Star Machine are part off a welcome resurgence in straight up speed drenched hedonistic rock ‘n roll, whilst there might not be any surprises on the “Devil’s Breath” this is rock music done just as it oughta be. “Devil’s Breath” will be released on the 3rd April 2020 via The Sign Records and can be pre-ordered on CD, coloured vinyl and digital formats via Bandcamp here

Lucifer Star Machine‘s website can be found here