Three albums in and hellbound maniacs Lucifer Star Machine are here with their most commercially accessible record to date and, without doubt, their finest record so far and one that has just about blown my speakers! I shit you not people because 'Rock N Roll Martyrs' is on fire. From the opening salvo of 'Hold Me Down' with a virtually new line-up Tor has assembled a blistering crew who rock the fuck out of this record. If El Diablo wanted to play a fanfare to announce the end of time then this might well be the symphony he's gonna choose. These cats swing from Motörhead at their most brutal crossed with the Backyard Babies when they had some bollocks on 'Total 13' to a riffed up Turbonegro at their most offensive or the Misfits when Graves was fronting them and they wrote for Black Flag ('Rotten To the Core'), that's where this record is. It's muscled itself up there with the big boys and that's where this deserves to be. Check out 'For Reasons Unknown' and tell me this isn't an epic jaunt through all that makes rock 'n' roll the 1%ers (the real rock 'n' rollers not some fake assed pussy patrol). This album is carting round a fair set of cahoonas folks and with more melody being introduced and Tor proving that he can sing with the best of them, I guess it might have been the missing ingredient in the past; but adding a lot of melody is inspirational and it makes this record exciting. The opener screams intent! 'Hold Me Down' would have blown away 'Total 13' had it been written by Dregen. This is exciting and dangerous and exactly what you want out of dirty, filthy street level rock 'n' roll. The production is spot on as well with it not being over produced yet leaving enough daylight between the grooves to let the songs breath: to say I'm impressed would be an understatement. The junked up glunk groove of 'Sulphur & Speed' is just about nailed in the title with the low down dirty glitter riff, with some fantastic vocals this is off the hook ladies and gentlemen! There are twelve tracks on offer and they're one as good as the next and whilst I had a lot of time for the previous two albums this is definitely on another level. 'Poison Arrows' has a superb melody and works with the rhythm section whilst the guitars riff, hack and slash, but I don't know why I'm picking this track out for treatment because I could pluck any song really it's that good an album. 'Dark Water' is frantic and giving me palpitations - it's like a deleted scene from a slasher movie that was just too brutal to put to screen. Tor cries out "I'm Alive, I'm Alive, I'm Alive, I'm Alive" and you're snapped back to reality. If you're waiting for the token acoustic number with candles then I'm afraid you are reading the wrong review, this, as I said, is El Diablo's call to arms. They might sing about being 'Rotten To The Core' but I know they are Rock and Roll to the core. This is as honest as hardcore punk rockin' gets. Lucifer Star Machine walk the walk and talk the talk and in 'Rock N Roll Martyrs' they have delivered one beast of an album that quite simply deserves to be heard. To finish off I should just print the lyrics for 'I Hate You Forever' but I won't; let's just say it's a potty mouth special and the C bomb is dropped with enough venom to frighten a bus-full of snake wranglers. Have I just been listening to the album of the year? I fuckin' well might have! Simply excellent stuff and most definitely right up there as one of the finest records of the year. 'Rock And Roll Martyrs' is a winner no doubt about it! - from Uberrock UK