LucienDirty garage rock with enough flair to make any stadium cock-rockers cower in embarassment. That's the only way I can describe Sweden's Lucien. Following in the footsteps of The Hellacopters and Zeke, Lucien crank out some really classic rock tunes. In the 1970's it seemed many rock bands were just trying to live the rock & roll dream. Taking the soul of blues musicians like Muddy Waters and BB King and injecting it with some hard rock energy from bands that would eventually spawn the first metal wave of the early 80's.
Bands such as Aerosmith, Thin Lizzy and AC/DC began their careers performing 'balls-to-the-wall' rock & roll that sounded as if they had spent all day practicing in a sweaty garage to be ready for their first gig in some dive, biker bar. All of these bands would of course evolve their sound to adapt to the stadium-size audiences their fame would eventually garner them, but this is where my initial impression of Lucien lies rooted.
Steel balls, garage rock with flair. Not the cheesy glitz that made bands like Poison or Warrant so laughable to watch, however, the sort of flair that comes with unbridled confidence. Lucien has that soulful blues lingering through their songs that made those 70's rock bands so interesting. With a competant and driving rythm section and a twin-guitar attack that makes KISS look like the clowns they truly were. This CD often makes me wonder how big Lucien would've been, had they been born 25-30 years earlier.
I don't find myself listening to straight-up rock bands everyday, but this band is certainly worth any music fans time. If you're into garage rock like The Hellacopters, Zeke, The Hookers or Motorhead...you should track this CD down. If you don't listen to any of those bands, but dig classic rock bands like those aforementioned in this review, then you should likewise check these guys out.
Rating: 4/5
Songs Worthy of Replay: Shelley & Pollidori (a cold chill in the air), Unholy Lord Of Rock, The Plowman Vs The Wind.
Synopsis: Classic rock is where everything good in music started. Hardcore, punk, metal and grind all came from the hard rock bands of the 70's. So don't shun good rock bands because they're not on the 'cool' hardcore label. And don't be so closed-minded to not give international bands a chance. There are many great bands outside the trendy US music scene.