Lik – Carnage album review

Scando-death’s buzzsaw-wielding new breed Lik hit the jackpot

Lik – Carnage album cover

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Carnage

Lik – Carnage album cover

1. To Kill
2. Rid You Of Your Flesh
3. Celebration Of The Twisted
4. Dr Duschanka
5. Left To Die
6. Cannibalistic Infancy
7. Death Cult
8. The Deranged
9. Only Death Is Left Alive
10. Embrace The End

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As confirmed with considerable venom on their 2015 debut, Mass Funeral Evocation, Lik are zealous advocates of the legendary Swedish death metal sound, HM-2 pedals and all. What they’ve also mastered on their second album is the razor-sharp, ruthlessly direct songwriting that informed At The Gates’ seminal Slaughter Of The Soul. Consequently, Carnage is more potent, memorable and revelatory than any number of worthy but unremarkable records made by the omnipresent legions of Nihilist clones. The perfect marriage of buzzsaw bluster and unstoppable hooks, everything from mad-eyed and stabby opener To Kill to dark, bilious denouement Embrace The End feels both meticulously crafted and driven by seldom-heard levels of intensity. At times, this is almost comically exciting: listen to Only Death Is Left Alive at maximum volume and you may shit yourself with pure death metal joy.

Dom Lawson
Writer

Dom Lawson began his inauspicious career as a music journalist in 1999. He wrote for Kerrang! for seven years, before moving to Metal Hammer and Prog Magazine in 2007. His primary interests are heavy metal, progressive rock, coffee, snooker and despair. He is politically homeless and has an excellent beard.