Released: 2024
Genre: Stoner rock, Heavy psych, Doom
Sounds Like: Red Scalp, Pallbearer, Kataonia
Homeland: Switzerland
What makes Lucifer Giant elite and sit atop OHMs Peak?
The debut of Lucifer Giant is truly timeless. This exceptional piece of work will guide you on a soothing exploration of expansive heavy soundscapes
The vocals have a soft and ethereal quality, reminiscent of the soothing tone of Katatonia's lead singer, Jonas Renkse
Each song possesses a similar tone and vibe, creating a vast and immersive journey into doom
The impressive album cover encapsulates the essence and complexity of the album, inviting you into their heavy psychedelic world
Track Listing:
1. Lucifer 6:17
2. Monuments 10:22
3. Acid Dream 7:05
4. Miles Deep Well 9:14
5. Crimson Curtains 7:43
6. Ghost 8:33
Dive deeper into their debut album with our Q&A with Lucifer Giant.
OHMs Peak: We can’t get this out of rotation, your debut is absolutely cathartic and healing. You hit majestic heights as this album encompasses the perfect blend of heavy and beauty. Sigrist and Flury deliver one of the best vocal performances of the year. We would love to hear more about the band’s background and how you started. Were you in other projects together? Any insights to your formation we would love to hear?
Lucifer Giant: First, many thanks for all the words of praise. We are overwhelmed by the positive reactions we are getting, mostly from abroad, to our release. The mixture of heavy and beauty that you mentioned most likely stems from our diverse musical backgrounds. Although we've all known each other since we were teenagers, we've always been active in different bands, some of which couldn't be further apart in terms of genre. When we started writing music together five years ago, Sigrist and Remo had been in a band together since they were teenagers. Avi and Matt, who also had their first band together when they were 14, were jamming together again after a long break and Andy, who they have all known since they were teenagers, played bass in a local rock band.
OHMs Peak: Your debut has a different feel than many of the psychedelic doom encounters we have. Your work is one that catapults the listener into this expansive heartfelt atmosphere of despair. It conjures so many beautiful images of mountainsides and open air. Take us through the writing process and setting in making this album?
Lucifer Giant: Perhaps these images come from the fact that we all grew up in the idyllic Bernese Oberland, on Lake Thun, surrounded by mountains. The nature here is truly beautiful and certainly has a great influence on our creative work. Despite all this beautiful nature and idyll, we are no strangers to setbacks, losses, physical and mental illnesses. They are part of life and as far as Sigrist and Matt's songwriting is concerned, they both dive into the dark abysses of life again and again.
The mixture of these probably led us to the sound we play now. Most of the time our songs start with a riff, an idea or a concept from Sigu or Matt, which the two of them then work out together and then play with the full line-up in the loop until the whole thing takes shape. Not to forget Remo Häberli from Hidden Stash Studio in Bern, who gave our sound the finishing touches with his production.
OHMs Peak: What bands over the years have influenced your sound? We hear hints of Red Scalp and Katatonia, but only splashes.
Lucifer Giant: Our songwriting is influenced by many bands from different genres. All of us like bands like Rezn, Elder, Elephant Tree or Masters Of Reality. But we try not to force ourselves into a frame and basically just play what is right for us.
OHMs Peak: There is not a flaw in this album but if we had to pick a favourite (gun to our heads) it might be ‘Monuments’. It’s ten minutes of epic songwriting and solemn synth. The vocals and how you accentuate phrases is so powerful. Take us through the concept and making of this track.
Lucifer Giant: When Matt started writing Monuments, his idea was to write something epic sounding with a driving melody that pulled straight forward. Initially the song consisted of three riffs that we jammed repeatedly, which was so much fun that the rest developed organically on its own. At one point the song was even over ten minutes long, so we cut it down again and only kept the essential parts. Our concept is not to co-curate the instruments with the vocals but to embed the vocals into the overall picture in a similar way to the instruments. That's why the lyrics are repeated like the riffs in the song.
OHMs Peak: The album cover is so fitting to your sound. Who created and drove the artwork?
Lucifer Giant: All our artworks so far are from our longtime good friend Philippe Jeanquartier. Shortly after he heard us for the first time, he had already illustrated and printed a shirt design for us on his own initiative, which we all really liked. From the very beginning we had the feeling that he absolutely understood how to capture the idea of our music visually.
The reference to the cover artwork was created during a rainy hike in October and shows the black monk. A mountain that is in the bernese jungfrau massif. It quickly became clear to us that this image suited our music, and that Philippe was the right person to visualize it.
OHMs Peak: How did your name come about? Any story behind the selection of Lucifer Giant?
Licifer Giant: It may sound boring, but the name came with the music. We had some songs and recorded them in our own studio with an old tape machine. Under influence of some substances, we then decided to name the band Lucifer Giant.
We chose Lucifer because it is a tragical figure, got banned from heaven and created his own hell. He made his choices and had to live with the consequences, like we did in our lives. The Giant we chose, because we loved the vision of a big and slow giant living in the mountains, listening to our sound.
OHMs Peak: Lucifer Giant is stranded on an island with only a solar powered turn table and majestic powered solar blue tooth speakers. The band collectively can only choose one album. Which album to you agree to?
Licifer Giant: That’s a tough one to answer, because we have such different influences in music. There are so many great records that changed music for us and for everyone. But Lucifer Giant was born while listening to Sleep, so maybe that’s a sign.
Lucifer Giant are:
Simu Sigrist - Guitar, Vocals
Matt Flury - Guitar, Vocals
Remo - Synth, Backing Vocals
Avi Moser - Drums
Ändu Feuz - Bass
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