Lucifer's Friend is a German hard rock band, formed in Hamburg in 1970 by guitarist Peter Hesslein, singer John Lawton, bassist Dieter Horns, keyboardist Peter Hecht, and drummer Joachim Reitenbach. 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.[3][4] Beyond heavy metal, the band has been cited, too, as one of the pioneers of doom metal, helping to define both genres due to their heavy sound and dark oriented lyrics of their debut Lucifer's Friend of 1970,[5] and returning to their roots in 1981 with Mean Machine, although more influenced by speed metal.