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The Metal Voice recently spoke to Lucifer frontwoman Johanna Sadonis about the bands up and coming studio album, ‘Lucifer 5’ that will be released Jan 26, 2024 via Nuclear Blast Records.

Sadonis also spoke about her early years relations with Rammstein and the band Ghost. Plus Sadonis reflects on the bands controversial name.

When asked about making the band appealing to the mainstream
“I don’t want to. I don’t want to change our sound. Of course I could go to invest and get a really fancy modern producer to give us this like sleek modern rock sound that all the bands have. We could do that and maybe it would make us more radio friendly or something. We could write the songs to be more accessible for the mainstream but we don’t want to because we like what we do and maybe this means we are doomed to remain in the underground. But what I can say is that we have a very loyal following and so far the band is growing. It’s growing slow but steady and from album to album the curve never goes down, we always sell every album a little bit more records than on the last one. And I see it when we tour the audience grows and we have fans that are really true fans. It’s not like a hype thing that happens quick and then it vanishes. I think it gives me the feeling that Lucifer might be here to stay.”

When asked about describing the musical direction of the new album
“I would say it has all the ingredients that a Lucifer album has always had. Hard Rock, a little bit of New Wave of British heavy Metal from the 70’s-80’s. You have doom in there, you have some sort of Pop sensibility but more in an old school sense as in very subtle way. We do listen to a lot of Soul music as well and all these things flow into us and get pushed out into a Lucifer album. I think on this album we took these typical Lucifer ingredients a little further and expended a little bit so you still have the doom and the heaviness and so on but you also have slow songs. We stay true to ourselves but the goal is always to not repeat a song that we’ve done already so hopefully we manage to keep the melodies interesting. “
 

When asked her past relations with the band Ghost
“We have been on tour together (with Ghost), we supported Ghost on a French arena tour which was very interesting. I’ve seen Ghost grow because I used to put on shows in Berlin (Germany) I was a small local heavy metal promoter. I used to run a club called Kill Em All Club dedicated to old school heavy metal and hard rock. I would put on bands and I put on Ghost. I think it was 2011 before the first album came out and they played in front of 80 people there. They wore masked they already had the church robes.”

When asked if she thought the band Ghost would become so successful
“No but I didn’t really think about it. The thing is I have seen another band grow like this. I grew up with the guys from Rammstein because I come from East Berlin. I have a brother that is 11 years older than me and he was a GDR punk and it was a very small punk scene in GDR because a problem with the GDR (German Democratic Republic) government politically. Rammstein also came from that same punk scene. So my brother was really close friends with Christian “Flake” Lorenz and Paul Landers. I know Flake the keyboard player since I was 3 years old. So I have seen the band rise

When asked if she thought Rammstein would be so successful
“No but you don’t consciously think about it. It happens and your like wow pretty cool and now the same thing happens with Ghost, it is amazing. It makes me really happy cause it is really makes it possible (to be successful).”

When asked if they have had problems with promoters or church groups due to the name Lucifer
“It’s funny that is a very American or North American, problem. In Sweden everything is very progressive in terms of what role the church plays versus the government and nobody raises an eyebrow at this name in Germany or Sweden at all. It’s not associated with the plague as much as it is in the USA . Sometimes I see comments (online) uh and that’s only always an Americans that says oh this band would be way more successful if their name wasn’t Lucifer in America. Sometimes somebody posts a Lucifer song and then you have the ones from the Bible Belt that are like oh my God I can’t listen to that with that name. So they don’t even give the song the time of the day because of the name. But I have thought about it, am I willing to compromise and change that name because of that? No I’m just going to keep on going.”

Although Lucifer is known to notoriously deliver critically acclaimed albums, supreme songwriting and quality recordings, LUCIFER V is rumored to be their best album yet. Combining elements of all their previous albums into one monumental mass of electrifying heavy rock and roll. Eerie landscapes shaped by soaring guitar riffs, the thunderous pounding of bass and drums from some sort of groovy inferno, haunted melodies to weep into your drink to, the screeching tires of a 1971 Cadillac hearse, the humorous morbidity and tragic wit of Johanna’s lyrics.

If death had a best friend, it would be Lucifer and they would hang out together at the local cemetery, shooting the shit.

Tracklisting:

1. Fallen Angel
2. At The Mortuary
3. Riding Reaper
4. Slow Dance In A Crypt
5. A Coffin Has No Silver Lining
6. Maculate Heart
7. The Dead Don’t Speak
8. Strange Sister
9. Nothing Left To Lose But My Life
   Playing time: 39:37

Catch Lucifer live this November in North America on The Satanic Panic Tour co-headlining with Coven, as well as this coming February together with Angel Witch & Coven, when Lucifer brings The Satanic Panic Tour to Europe.

Lucifer is:

Johanna Platow Andersson (vocals)
Nicke Andersson Platow (drums)
Linus Björklund (guitar)
Martin Nordin (guitar)
Harald Göthblad (bass)