[1] The group was an early practitioner of heavy metal and progressive rock;[2] they also incorporated elements of jazz and fusion into their music, especially in their fourth album Banquet of 1974.
The self-titled 1971 debut had dark lyrics and a stripped-down guitar and organ style and sounded similar to Deep Purple, Uriah Heep, Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath [citation needed].
Banquet (1974) featured extended, multi-layered jazz fusion compositions and a 30-piece backup band, alternating with some shorter tracks reminiscent of Chicago and Traffic.
Mind Exploding (1976) established a holding pattern and tried to combine the jazz of Banquet with the garage-rock of Rock & Roll Singer, but was not as well received as the earlier albums.
The band officially broke up in 1982 but thirteen years later, in 1994 John and Peter Hesslein briefly reformed to release a new CD, Sumo Grip under the name of Lucifer's Friend II, with Curt Cress, Andreas Dicke, Jogi Wichmann and Udo Dahmen replacing the classic line-up.
Although John Lawton stated that the crew weren't interested in getting back to record or perform live again,[7] in August 2014 he announced on his website that the original lineup would reunite to play some dates in 2015, including Sweden Rock Festival in June,[8] after almost 40 years since their last gig together.
Bassist Dieter Horns died in December 2020 followed by John Lawton in June 2021, effectively ending the band.