Nine years after their cult debut album, Demonication (The Manifest), LUCIFERION emerge from the depths to give the death metal world an injection of vitality. The band is composed of an all-star Swedish line-up. Band leader/guitarist/vocalist Wotjek Lisicki went on to form power metal sensations, LOST HORIZON, after LUCIFERION went on ice in the mid 90’s. Guitarist/vocalist Michael Nicklasson went on to play bass for DARK TRANQUILLITY. LOST HORIZON bassist Martin Furangen and THE GREAT DECEIVER/DIMENSION ZERO drummer Hans Nilsson round out the band. Seamlessly merging the sound of classic MORBID ANGEL and DEICIDE, LUCIFERION have concocted an atom bomb of blasting death metal. Keyboards are used to set a mystical tone to things in a similar fashion to old BAL-SAGOTH and to accentuate some of the guitar riffs like IX Equilibrium-era EMPEROR. The technicality, dynamics, and execution of the material are comparable to many of death metal’s best bands. They easily transition from brutal, fast parts to mid-tempo rhythms to longer instrumental passages. It is in these instrumental passages where the band brings to mind classic METALLICA and latter day DEATH. Lightning fast licks and sweeping melodic hooks utilized by a strong sense of instrumental prowess characterize the very impressive lead guitar work. There are a few downsides to this release, the major one being the fact that there are a mere four songs of new material. The rest of the release consists of a blazingly fast rendition of CELTIC FROST’s “Circle of the Tyrants” and five songs taken from their 1994 demo tape. The second biggest criticism is the fact that some of the riffs and vocals lines are a bit too close to “the originals” for comfort. The sound bites from the cult sci-fi film, Dark City, kinda come off in a cheesy manner and could’ve been left out. The Apostate exhibits the potential for them to become one of the bigger bands in the genre. Here’s to hoping that LUCIFERION choose to release more new material. (Listenable Records)