Like a beloved Grandma's fairytale or like a guaranteed good wine, the Norwegians LUCIFER WAS return once again to take us on a trip through time and give us some Scandinavian luciferious sonic stories via their spooky tunes, from the glorious prog rock of 70s till their modern neo-classical operatic'face'. "The Crown Of Creation" with the inspired-by-God cover done by Frank Fiedler (known from German kraut-legends POPOL VUH) and the powerful renaissance title, is the latest effort of LUCIFER WAS as the hard rock band from Norway, after the most recent and more successful album in their carrier, "The Divine Tree", released three years ago. Will 'the crown' manage to overcome the preceding 'tree' or some standards are not supposed to be debunked by the younger up-comers? The key to this mystery seems to be well-hidden through Lucifer's womb and Angel's wings and the truth will be hardly spoken.

Flutes, mellotron, heavy keyboards and seduced-by-Lucifer guitars remain between the main instruments that band still use, while the Jon Ruders'vocal parts have acquired a more dramatic reading, similar to some all-time-classics, lustrous cine soundtracks' once. The emphasis lies completely on the addition of the Kristiansand Symphonic Orchestra and the violins, since LUCIFER WAS try to experiment with something totally different in their till now sound, reaching successful the borders of a kind of Rock Opera with some generous doses of progressive neo-classical rock. JETHRO TULL's teaching has marked for good LUCIFER WAS' sound and you might still recognize a couple of DEEP PURPLE's tunes, especially in the guitar parts. However, "The Crown Of Creation" shows band's brand new face and the result is quite effective to our ears. The opening "Wonder" enters us into this mysterious new sonic Eden, till the lasting-a-few-seconds "Three Hammers" achieves to spread some thrills, taken from a Hitchcock's horror scene (see "Psycho", 1960). Then, Jon Ruders' voice manage to break our hearts, whereas "Rising Sun" rises to prominence its victory inside our Ian Anderson-fanatic funky souls.

The frantic party of LUCIFER WAS is almost a fact in the middle of the album and the melancholy of "Moments", and only if you are familiar to sounds like these, you'll recognize your sonic idol surrender like a votary to some ancient Bromius' bacchante. The great winner of "The Crown Of Creation" is the following "Bethanian Theme" which combines this new age sorrow of LUCIFER WAS' neoclassical element with some all time classic hard rock solo and turn from a dangerous swan to a glutton rock star without a difficulty. Afterwards, you find "Cabris Sans Cornes" and its DEAD CAN DANCE characteristics quite tempting, while "Into The Blue" begins with a sensual, heartbreaking guitar solo with the loyal fellowship of the flute and Ruders' female vocal partner.

The trumpets of Genesis just sound and LUCIFER WAS' rush attempt to begin the up-to-date Apocalypse. This one has nothing to do with some kind of Metal tunes or aggressive twin guitars, so, if you expect something like that from this record, you'll better stay back. "The Crown Of Creation" is the modern glimpse into a monstrous kind of "Phantom Of The Opera" act, or even better, its capable heir apparent. Personally, I bend in front of the Norwegians' grace because of their courage and daring to offer us something 'new', meaning each one letter of this word.