The DevilsHorns

Necro is the 4^th album by Swedish death metal quartet LIK. It has all the qualities you’d expect from a band in this region, buzz-saw riffs, dirty vocals you can understand and an overall sense of melody blended with raw aggression.

What is immediately obvious is that LIK continue to pay homage to their forebears. Album opener, ‘Deceased’ is the song Entombed never wrote. Indeed, vocalist Tomas Åkvik acknowledges this, ‘That song turned into like an old Entombed song that we’ve been trying to write for years’. Entombed vibes aside – it is an absolute banger of an opening track. It is immediate and it lets you know that Necro isn’t going to fuck about.

‘War Praise’ follows. Again it is immediate. Again the riff drives home their message. This is Swedish death metal, influences be damned. Chris Barkensjö’s drumming stands out for the first, but not the last time. Throughout Necro, he is immense. We are also hit with solos and a death grunt vocal that slays. Excellent stuff!

inside. ‘Morgue Rat’ is about the infamous necrophiliac Karen Greenlee. ‘Rotten Inferno’ closes the album out, with the subject matter being a murderer using victims for sexual pleasure! You have to love death metal!

There is absolutely nothing, on the face of it, to dislike about Necro. It isn’t long, 7 tracks across 40 odd minutes. It has riffs to die for, it pummels at times and eases off at other for a bit of respite. Perhaps it can be accused of being a bit ‘samey’, but that would be purely due to the genre limitations.

The fact is, LIK have fired out an album that hits all the right notes. If you are a metalhead, you will enjoy this. If you are dabbling in death metal and need an intro album – Necro is the one for you!

It isn’t end-of-year top 10 material, but it will be worthy of many listens and we will struggle to see a similar album in the genre better it.

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