(Here’s DGR‘s review of the latest album by the Swedish death metal band Lik, out now on Metal Blade Records.)
We are now eleven years and four full-length albums into the death-obsessed career of Sweden’s Lik and it feels as if the group have been ever-present in one form or another. Formed right as the OSDM and Swede-death resurrections were full steam ahead, Lik have been steadily present just under the surface of the wider metal world.
There have been some decently long gaps between the group’s releases as well; a quick glance over their musical timeline suggests a pretty traditional three years or so gap between material but it always seems as if the band are always there in one’s listening habits. Perhaps it’s the fact that many of its members are spread out among larger bands like Bloodbath and Katatonia, so it seems almost inevitable that you’ll find yourself musing “Oh hey, it’s one of the guys from Lik!”
Or it could be that despite their clearly prescribed formula and tribute-paying at the altar of gore, Lik have proven themselves to be savants in the genre of death metal and happen to be particularly good at this. Continue reading »