Lucifer's Friend

The Profile

Lucifer's Friend are a German hard/progressive rock band formed in Hamburg in 1970 by John Lawton, Peter Hesslein, Peter Hecht, Dieter Horns, and Joachim Rietenbach. They moved from dark, heavy hard rock into progressive and jazz-fusion textures on albums like Banquet, later touching AOR and metal; Lawton also sang with Uriah Heep. The band reformed in the 2010s.

Debut album: Lucifer's Friend (1970), featuring the track Ride the Sky with French horn riff; earlier name: Asterix; John Lawton later joined Uriah Heep; Banquet (1974) includes prominent horn/brass arrangements; Curt Cress played drums on Mind Exploding (1976); reactivated in 2015 with releases including Too Late To Hate (2016) and Black Moon (2019).

Three reviews chart Lucifer's Friend from the dark, hard-rock thunder of the 1970 debut to the brassy, prog–jazz swirl of Banquet and the tight, fusion-laced punch of Mind Exploding. John Lawton’s vocals are praised as a defining force. Banquet’s suites and horn arrangements stand out, while Mind Exploding is hailed for its production and breadth. References to Uriah Heep and krautrock frame the band’s distinct path.