Lik – “Necro” review

Lik is a death metal band from Stockholm, Stockholms län, Sweden consisting of guitarist/bassist Niklas Sandin, guitarist/vocalist Tomas Åkvik, drummer/vocalist Christofer Barkensjö & bassist Joakim Antman. Following their full-length debut Mass Funeral Evocation, they would sign with Metal Blade Records furthering the acclaim in the form of both Carnage & Misanthropic Breed respectively. 5 years later, the band’s getting back together to put out their 4th full-length studio LP.

“Deceased” is this death metal intro feeling like the living dead waking up whereas “War Praise”homages the style of bands like Dismember taking us through the horrors of conflict. “They” paints the image of demon’s spawn who wait, watch, hunt & kill addicted to the taste or flesh prior to “Worms Inside” turning up the tempo a bit assuring the torturing nightmare is real & slowly becoming numb.

The 2nd single “Morgue Rat” crosses over standard death metal with elements of melodic death metal singing about their funeral obsession forever feed the band’s carnal lust just before “Shred into Pieces” kinda goes for a grindcore vibe abiding by the sickness. “In Ruins” easily sticks out the slowest track here talking about now being the time to die while “The Stockholm Massacre” takes inspiration from the Stockholm Bloodbath that occurred centuries ago.

“Fields of Death” pushes further towards the final moments of Necro throwing it back to the days of Mass Funeral Evocation explaining that the meadows of demise are eternally endless reigning chaos & awaiting their turn to perish, but then “Rotten Inferno” closes the LP showing Lik’s appreciation for Autopsy’s groundbreaking sophomore effort Mental Funeral talking about living solely to feel the pain of others suffering.

Gloriously returning to action standing loud & proud over so many imitators, Necro is the musical equivalent of a classic shock-horror movie that’s drenched in blood & gore packed with over-the-top extremities. On the other hand: It could most likely be the weakest of the 4 albums Lik has put out despite it’s bigger number of highs & lows primarily due to the meat & potatoes presentation of both death metal & melodic death metal.

Score: 3.5/5

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Necro – “The Notorious Goriest” review

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Necro is a 42 year old rapper & producer from Brooklyn, New York who started out playing in a death metal band called Injustice in 1987 with his older brother Ill Bill. He then transitioned over into hip hop the following year after being inspired by Bill & both have made quite the names for themselves in the underground. Especially with classics like Gory Days, The Pre-Fix for Death, the self-titled Circle of Tyrants album, What’s Wrong with Bill?The Hour of Reprisal just to name a few. But at the beginning of the decade, they began distancing themselves from each other with Bill regularly putting out music under his own name as well as with La Coka Nostra. Necro on the other hand has been pretty quiet with the exceptions of his 2010 album Die!, his Murder Murder Kill Kill EP, a handful of singles & a criminally underrated slept-on collab album with the legendary Kool G Rap under the name The Godfathers. However, he’s now making his full comeback with his 7th full-length album after appearing in the A24 Films crime thriller Good Time.

After the intro, we go into the first song “Murder Obscene”. Here, Necro spits his signature death bars over a gloomy boom bap beat. After the “H.N.A. (Head Neck Apartheid)” prelude, we go into the actual song with the same name. Where Necro spits more clever murder bars over a spacious boom bap beat. The track “My Precious” brags about his rapping skills over an ominous instrumental with a killer guitar riff during the hook while the song “Know Con-Science” returns to the witty yet filthy lyricism over a boom bap beat with a sinister piano lead. After the “W.T.W.C.T. (What’s This World Coming To?)” prelude, we go into the actual song with the same name. The hook is kinda annoying, but the soul sample is a nice touch & Necro’s confrontational lyricism suits it pretty well.

The track “Deaded” compares himself to Michael Myers over a boom bap beat with some sinister strings while the song “Caught Up!” talks about how violent he is over a punchy beat with some Halloween-esque bells. “The Love & Terror Cult” tells his competition to step back over a boom bap beat with some somber piano chords while the song “Party Killer” gets raunchy over an electro instrumental. The title track cleverly describes his disgusting antics over an eerie beat while the song “Gat O’ 9 Tales” is filled with battle bars over an instrumental with a prominent piano lead & a beautiful soul sample during the hook.

After the prelude to “The Master of Ruckus”, we go into the actual song with the same name. Here, Necro talks about killing you when you’re sleeping over a boom bap beat with a funky bass-line. The track “Grave Ol World” goes back to the raunchiness over a symphonic beat while “The Stories of the Almost Dead” vividly describes the protagonist’s life of crime over another boom bap beat with a piano lead & soul sample for the hook. And before things end off with the outro, the final song “The Dawn of a Dead Day” goes back to taking aim at his competition over a beat inspired by a blaxpoitation film.

I was wondering if Necro would ever drop an album again, but this is a strong comeback for him. Despite the lack of features & the song preludes bogging it down, Necro continues to prove that he’s one of the best producers that the underground has to offer with soundscapes on here being darker than ever & his horrorcore lyricism being as creative as it’s been in the past.

Score: 4/5