Wednesday 9 August 2023

LUCIFUNGUS ~ LUCIFUNGUS 4 ...... review


If your band is made up of just a drummer and a guitarist and you ply your trade within the canon of heavy music then it highly likely that the music you create is going to be riff based, this is very much the case with Australian duo Lucifungus and they are not about to apologise for it either. Do not, however, go expecting deep po-faced songs about the occult, politics or war because that is just not the way Lucifungus roll, their grooves might be heavy, their riffs may be dank and their rhythms thunderous but their music also possess an element of glorious tongue in cheek humour, something that will become glaringly apparent when listening to the bands fourth album "Lucifungus 4".


 "Hey friend! Whatcha goin do that for man? You've had, your filthy way, with over half of them" is the recurring lyric gracing opening song "Slugs Are The Enemy", no explanation of these words is offered nor is there any needed as this is all about the groove, guitarist/vocalist DD and drummer/vocalist Be Rad framing those lyrics in a groove built around powerfully thrashed drum skins and heavily hit guitar strings mired in heavy rock and metal dynamics. Just a hint of heavy bluesiness informs next song "The Unspoken" but it is only a hint as once again the dynamic is chiefly metallic with DD and Be Rad harmonising in low grainy vocal tones about lines that are broken and "fallen angels" against a backdrop of equally grainy stonerized metal. There is an air of Sabbathian proto-doom to found on following song "Ignite Your Soul", DD breaking out his wah pedal to add a little "wacka-wacka" colouring to the proceeding while Be Rad pummels his drums into submission beneath. "She Sells" sees Lucifungus mixing it up a little bit by shifting between time signatures but never going overboard while "Ride To The Sea" finds the duo pulling on their black robes for a riff heavy workout that routinely shifts between proto and traditional doom. Final song "Saga" boasts the immortal line "I don't know what i'm going to do, but i know what i'm going to do to you" over a groove that spits and snarls with menace but somehow still manages to retain a level of twinkle in the eye joyousness and fun not often found in music of this nature.


If you are coming to this album expecting intricate guitar noodling and jazzy drumming attached to heavy and deep conceptual themes then "Lucifungus 4" is probably not the album you are looking for, if however you are looking for guitar riffs that crunch and thrum and rhythms that pound and pummel decorated in lyrical content that won't give you a headache trying to decipher then this bundle of dark fun should be your very next purchase.
Check it out ... 

© 2023 Frazer Jones

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