The Warlock of Da’ath with Lucifericon
Art: Abyssic Art
Bio:
After opening the sorcerous gate through Al-Khem-Me-cal processes on the previous album, we have again embraced every atom of the blackest mass to conjure darkness from a more cabalistic perspective. Indeed, Lucifericon’s Al-Khem-Me debut full-length displayed the full fathom of the band’s metal of death. While they’d recently teased with a couple of short lengths, that momentous 2018 album created an endlessly slipstreaming (and endlessly fascinating) vortex of malevolence and memorability. It was death metal forged in the fires of the late ’80s and early ’90s, but never was it blinkered by that all-too-considerable past.
And so it goes with Lucifericon’s second album, The Warlock of Da’ath. “Musically, we have always drawn influences from all corners of the musical abyss,” the band continue. There are noticeable differences compared to previous material, but we stay within our path. We have deepened the path with even more layers than before. After shedding these layers of skin from the phenomenal world, this serpent called Lucifericon will reveal itself.”
Naturally, within that cauldron bubbles black metal and doom, alongside that firm foundation of elder death metal. But how Lucifericon stirs that cauldron makes all the difference; verily, it emerges as death metal, but an incredibly nuanced and engaging form of such, shapeshifting (and subsequently mesmerizing) with absolute ease. Compounding this uptick in songwriting nous is the production on The Warlock of Da’ath: neither “old school” nor pejoratively new & sterile, this increased clarity heightens the intensity whilst revealing all those tastefully subtle details. Taken another way, the sulfurous fog swarms and swirls, slashing with ritual knives from the boundless shadows; the prophecy of doom is sealed and unassailable.
‘The Warlock of Da’ath’ starts with a warning before devouring you whole with death, doom, and black metal in the darkest form imaginable! Lucifericon has hereby eclipsed their not-inconsiderable past.
The term dark metal would be very appropriate in the case of Lucifericon. Our music is very dark sounding, and we consciously try to create it this way. We think the core of our music lies in the death metal genre, though. Other elements of extreme metal are also incorporated into our music, like doom, thrash and black metal. We are passionate and dedicated to our work, which means a lot to us. You can tell that by the details we put into our music and artwork so that it emanates a synergy of encompassing darkness.
I recall that it was all written and recorded during the covid period. So it was only sometimes possible to be together physically as a band. Contradictory to the previous record, our guitarist Anton has written the music for this new album. We made arrangements when the covid rules became less strict, and we could see each other again. During the writing sessions of the riffs we’ve used on the album, he has tried to come to the essence of the atmosphere of a guitar riff. Most of the time, it’s the main melody of an interpretation that makes it dark. Upon finding a catchy melody, please choose the right scale (mostly minor) and build a riff around it or vice versa. Some riffs are written from feelings of anger, darker thoughts or moments of loss. In some songs, the riffs directly reflect things happening in daily life.
The lyrics have almost all been occult subjects since the first release. It’s not our intention to have one theme throughout an entire album. But usually, every album has a number of songs that deal with the subject or concept. Sometimes our entire album is a concept, but it isn’t. Our previous album had much material about sorcery and the esoteric conception of alchemy. We have tried to stay on this path on the new record but to approach it from a different angle. So this is how some of the cabalistic approaches came into the picture. Our goal is not to follow a specific path but to pave our own by learning and acknowledging the best parts of every writing/teaching that appeal to us.
Music inspires others to make music. So obviously, certain bands have inspired us in a certain way. Having always been drawn to the darker side of things, the extreme bands and those sounding the darkest have always attracted me the most. This goes for the lyrical content just the same. I was never interested in writing about gore themes or horror film material. The best-fitting lyrics to go with extreme and dark-sounding music are the occult and esoteric ones. It causes a sense of mysticism which enhances the music, and then it creates this special atmosphere in its totality. When Anton and I (Rob) started talking about forming this band, we knew that our music had to have these elements.
Devotion to this kind of music, yes. And I am strongly interested in specific topics that I like to read about and write lyrics about. These matters certainly influence me, but I do not design my life in or around these philosophies.
My father found an AC/DC tape (For those about…) inside a car he traded in his garage business. I’m not sure what year that was, but I’m from ’76, and I’m pretty sure I wasn’t ten years old yet. So that must have been in ’84 or ’85, approximately, but he gave it to me to listen to. A friend from down the street had a father that played guitar and had a small room in his house that was a studio. His father was into Zappa, Satriani and some more guitar-oriented stuff. He also had Iron Maiden stuff lying around. My friend taped me Live After Death, which blew me away and is still my fave live album. On that tape, though, after Maiden’s 2nd or 3rd song, the album was interrupted by a Slayer song from the Hell Awaits album. I think it was Kill Again, but I don’t recall that 100% sure.
I was also blown away by that barrage of noise, which I started to appreciate a bit later. Soon after Maiden came the thrash metal stuff, and late in the 80s, the death metal movement started making its way out of the darkness. And I loved all of it. And still do. Favourite albums are always tricky because there are too many. But let’s say Maiden was an introduction to weighty music. From there, the rest started to evolve to extremer stuff. Slayer has always been mega vital to me. Their early material until South of Heaven is just pure magic and holds all the ingredients that I seek in extreme metal; the speed, the evil, the lifestyle looks, the heaviness, you name it, it’s all there. But more bands have special meanings, like Celtic Frost. But we could go on forever here.
That will be different for everybody. Somehow this music clicked with me in a way that it became more than just music. Some people only approach music from a musical or musician’s perspective. But to me also, the vibe and the lifestyle, the history of the bands and everything else that came with it was appealing. It became a religion, almost yes. In that sense, it is a spiritual thing, as you mention. The way how I experienced and lived music is something I wanted to share and create when we started Lucifericon.
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