Lucifer’s Hammer: Night Sacrifice (Demo MMXII)

Band: Lucifer’s Hammer
Album: Night Sacrifice (Demo MMXII)

Review:
Ever wish to take a time machine back to the early eighties when Heavy Metal was kicking ass, especially the bands from England like Iron Maiden, Diamond Head and Saxon? Well, I am noticing you really don’t need a time machine to find that classic eighties metal sound because their are plenty of young bands taking the old school sound and continuing the ass kicking legacy. Here we have yet another classic NWOBHM sounding band, this time from Chile, appropriately called, Lucifer’s Hammer. Without question the band strictly follows the classic metal blueprint on their debut three song demo, Night Sacrifice (Demo MMXII).
    If I were to play some Lucifer’s Hammer for a metal fan who had never heard of them, I wouldn’t be surprised if they were to think that the band was from the eighties. This demo contains fast guitar riffing, intense drum rhythms and high shrieking vocals. The singer in Lucifer’s Hammer sounds like Rob Halford from Judas Priest mixed with Kai Hansen from Helloween. Lucifer's Hammer raw intense sound is similar to how Helloween’s first full-length album, Walls of Jericho, sounds. The music is full of pure heavy metal passion and the lyrics are very catchy. Each song is constructed with solid main guitar rhythms that are accompanied by wicked melodic lead guitar parts. There is a bit of early Iron Maiden in their sound too at times with that raw aggressive sound yet still melodic in certain areas.
    The opening track, “Wolf,” begins with a very Maiden like guitar lead that slowly build’s up to the fast driving main riff. Once the drummer begins smashing on the cymbals the song kicks into maximum overdrive, and the singer comes in screaming. His vocals are not extremely high like King Diamond or Halford, but he does get the pitch close a couple times of this demo.
    Track two, “Shadows,” is another Maiden like song with the grand sounding intro and relentless main driving guitar riff. I really like this band’s consistent rhythms and their sound is really tight. Once the solo hits everyone seems to know where to go, and the lead guitar playing fits perfectly into the song. Lucifer’s Hammer knows how to keep it aggressive and to the point. They are not going off in multiple directions trying to show how technically insane they are as musicians.
    The last track on this three song demo, “Night Sacrifice,” is a ripping old school sounding piece of metal music. From the dark verses to the fist raising chorus the song is well structured both musically and lyrically. I will say that the lyrical themes of this album are not anything I haven’t heard before from a young old school metal sounding group, but hey, the dark lyrics do make for an enjoyable listen. One final not on this track is that it contains some catchy lead guitar fills, but they are not as explosive as the leads on the last couple tracks. Maybe the group decided to tone it down a bit to emphasize the main chorus that is still stuck in my head.
    Overall what we have here is another young band creating consistent old school metal because they like playing the music that they enjoy. If you are looking for the next innovative thing in metal, you still need to do your searching. However, if you want a solid band who plays music similar to Iron Maiden, Diamond head, Saxon, Judas Priest and early Helloween, I recommend checking out Lucifer’s Hammer. People from South America love their metal music, and this three song demo definitely displays a band who loves metal to the point where they sound very similar to the bands who probably influenced them.