Formed in Hamburg, Germany in 1970. Lucifer's Friend was founded by guitarist Peter Hesslein, singer John Lawton, bassist, Dieter Horns, keys by Peter Hecht, and drummer Joachim Retienbach. The group was a early practitioner of early heavy metal and progressive rock, they also incorporated jazz and fusion in to their sound, especially on their second album: '"Banquet", from 1974. Beyond heavy metal the band was also cited as one of the pioneers "Doom Metal", helping to define both styles due to their dark lyrics of their acclaimed debut album in 1970.
Their early albums were released on the Vertigo label in Europe, however they were released on a series of smaller independent record labels in the U.S.(Billingsgate, Passport, Janus) often a year or more after their released in Europe. Thus despite no radio support, they developed a cult following as the bands albums were hard to find, and commercial success eluded them.
The band was finally signed to Elektra records in 1977 and released three, more "poppy" albums.
but by then interest in the band waned, and the new albums became as rare as their earlier efforts.
Lucifer's Friend were known for changing styles with each release, but the 1970 albums the one sought after by collectors of early heavy metal.
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