LUCIFER’S CHILD: “THE ILLUMINANT”

(Here is DGR‘s evocative review of a new album released through Agonia Records in late March by the Greek black metal band Lucifer’s Child.)

The myths of black metal cast their subjects in many forms – conjurers, infernal priests, sorcerers, wizards, a whole barrel full of nihilistic entities. The evolution of the black metal show into ritualistic form has been an interesting – if obvious – evolution for a genre in which theatricality can be an important aspect. Over the years we’ve even archived many regional splits in the overall style, which has also made for fascinating subject matter to delve into on its own.

Exploring the anthopological and cultural aspects of the music is sometimes more interesting than the abyssal ablutions being dispensed for those who are seeking it. The genre has become almost synonymous with the cold and dense forests of a Scandinavian north, its ritualistic aspects becoming syncretic with Luciferian worship, magickal exploration, and melodramatic movement, to an effect that obviously speaks to so many people around the world – sometimes in reaction to an overbearing religious aspect of their daily cultural lives.

Where the regional splits have arisen is the equally interesting subject matter to speak of, because one of the more well-known yet still underrated ones is the black metal scene born out of Greece and its hellenic purveyors.

Photos by Sonja Schuringa (Chantik Photography)

This is not black metal that is cold and frozen to the touch, the desperate wails of the lonely and the blasphemy distributed among the dead. This is something that has been equally terrifying over the years, a formulation that is hot and fiery, music that conjures up imagery of smoke and sweat, one driven entirely by fire in the blood and the burning in hell.

This is a region that takes its Satan worship seriously and one that has figured out how to turn it into just as much spectacle and ritual showcase without trading much in the way of integrity. Groups in this circle have a passion for the subject matter, near-indescribably. This is the state in which we arrive at the door step of Lucifer’s Child for their latest full-length after a gap of nearly seven years, a monstrous hellhound of an album known as The Illuminant.

Lucifer’s Child are a band who are clearly bought in when it comes to their music. This is a group of musicians practiced in the arts of black metal who’ve been able to craft music in a way that makes it seem effortless. In a genre where you can be judged by the ghosts which you summon and the altars at which you cast your lot, Lucifer’s Child are the afore-mentioned conjurers. This is a group that is summoning and extoling the virtues of death at every step of the way, speaking strictly to the greed and primal aspects of the human mind.

Lucifer’s Child aren’t breaking the mold with their musical style but they are an excellent example of a vanguard for it. If you ever needed to point someone to one of the Grecian takes on the black metal scene, Lucifer’s Child and their three albums would be a fantastic start. We even have a tiny bit of history with the band dating back to the days of their 2015 album The Wiccan. Their newest one, The Illuminant is obviously far removed from those days but the lineup has remained remarkably stable. The Illuminant is an album constructed of learned experiences as well, then, with its musicians forged in just as much fire as the music itself.

The Illuminant is near-forty minutes of musical flamethrower applied to the face. At eight songs, each one of them is a journey through pure energy and immense heat. Most tend to hover around the four and a half minute mark but Lucifer’s Child get to show off their brawn in one particularly epic song as well, pushing as hard as they can to acheive close to seven minutes of howling, with black metal standards as backing. Coupled with a very light symphonic touch at times – a very, very light one, mostly in the form of ominous big brass horns – and you have a solid layout for how The Illuminant is going to raze the landscape before it and leave everything crumbling to ash as it passes.

The Illuminant has a bellicose nature, as the initial ferocity of opener “Antichrist” will lay out for you. It’s not so much cards being splayed across the table as it is a collection of knives, all of which are pointed in your direction. That opening scream could wake the gods from eons’ long slumber and the initial wind-shearing of a guitar solo spills over into colliding rhythms and kaleidoscope exploration on the guitar front. “Antichrist” is about as on-the-nose a title as you could get but you rarely need a reminder throughout The Illuminant that the band call themselves Lucifer’s Child for a reason.

“Ichor” is a more haunted and mournful affair in comparison to its earlier flame-wielding brethren. “Ichor” is the previously mentioned seven-minute epic that Lucifer’s Child drop dead center on the tracklisting. It is almost goth-rock in its opening movements for a bit, as if someone took Tribulation and one of their melodic guitar leads and mashed them back through a black metal filter. “Ichor” only grows to monumental status from there, though. Things may take a comforting lead but it isn’t more than two minutes into the song when Lucifer’s Child start putting drummer Nick Vell to work behind the kit.

“Ichor” is a tad bit Satanist-era Behemoth, seared and seasoned to taste. Slotting it in behind the gigantic fire whirl that is the three and a half minutes of “The Serpent And The Rod” and the persecutorial march of “Righteous Flama” is a smart maneuver. It gives The Illuminant a bit of dynamics to it rather than just constantly redlined through the entire affair. That dynamic, of course, is still some of the most flame-wielding black metal out there. If there can be a Cult Of Fire then in Lucifer’s Child‘s case they are the possessors of it.

The Illuminant wins out often because it is towering over the listener. It is a release of overpowering atmospherics and spectacle. Leave the hymnals and rituals to others, Lucifer’s Child are getting by on energy and strength for this release. While they explore the esoteric magicks of their eight songs and blaspheme to oblivion on the same path, they don’t forget that the music must be as strong as the subject matter. Lucifer’s Child are then extoling to us the arts of well-crafted and well-thought-out formula as well as adhering to it.

Black metal diehards will find many an element familiar in the Lucifer’s Child wheelhouse yet they are piecing them together in a strong enough way that they claim ownership of it for the five or so minutes that they take with each song. The Illuminant is a powerful entity of an album. The Illuminant comes with a strong recommendation to let you get bowled over by it again and again. Just be sure to clean up any left-behind burn marks afterward.

https://agoniarecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-illuminant
https://luciferschild.agoniarecords.com/
https://www.luciferschild.net
https://www.facebook.com/luciferschildmusic/
https://www.instagram.com/luciferschildofficial