Review LUZIFER ‘Iron Shackles’

Although ‘Iron Shackles’ is Luzifer’s debut album the roots of the band can be found years back in time. It was in 2009 when Steeler and Stefan Castevet started the band as a side project to Vulture. While the latter achieved tremendous attention in the German metal underground, Luzifer stayed in shadows.

An EP in 2015 and a single release in 2018 was what Luzifer got under their belt. It might be the pandemic and the extra time at hand providing space for the band to work on Luzifer songs. In addition, the band was joined by drummer Gereon Deceiver (Vulture, Blizzen) in 2021, an extra push that allowed the band to record ‘Iron Shackles’.

The debut album features seven songs and there are two songs that stick out already by having a glimpse on the tracklist. There is ‘Hexer (In Dreiteufelsnamen)’, a metal hymn with German lyrics. One has to get used to it but a certain charming effect can’t be denied. The second song that directly grabs attention is ‘Der goldene Reiter’. The song is a metallized cover version of Joachim Witt’s NDW hit and the Judas Priest-like beginning shows that there is more metal in this song than what Witt ever could imagine.

‘Iron Shackles’ is reflecting the essence of underground metal. Neither over produced nor heading for the big career the trio manifests their metallic heartbeat on this album. These songs are metal without a certain framework. The riffs are bliss for band and fans. Not more and not less.