As I wake up to another rainy day, I take my morning piss, make my coffee and sit at the computer to start my stroll through cyber-land when a thought hits me harder than my morning bm. Lich King’s new album Born Of The Bomb is waiting for me in my, well, spam folder!
Born of the Bomb is the 4th album by Western Massachusetts natives Lich King, who if you don’t already know, rule. Consisting of Tom Martin on vocals, Rob Pellegri and Joe Nickerson on guitar, Dave Hughes on bass, and Brian Westbrook on drums, Lich King once again prove that metal is suppose to be fun and that image and lyrics don’t mean shit. “Wall-Pussy’s” beware, listening to this album might revert you back to a primal age where picking your butt and bashing women you find attractive in the head is considered “normal”.
The album opens up with “All Hail”, the end all, be all of album openers. Just thinking of the riffs in this song brings back memories of neck pain and a terrible drive home after a hell of a concert. Not much to say about this song except that it sets the mood for the rest of album, which basically means, you’re gonna love the ass whoopin it is going to deliever.
Next up on the album is “We Came to Conquer”. This song picks up where Behaver left off, following their “Lyrics don’t mean shit” mentality.
“Hey guess what, bitch, we’re back”
“Beard, short hair, and I’m fat”
“No frills, no costumes, No ads in Kerrang”
When vocalist Tom Martian spits these bits of lyrical genius out, you know shit is about to be destroyed.
From the riffs all the way down to the hooks, this song does what the title says, conquer. Lich King lets the listener know a pretty common fact, they are the kings of the new wave and they don’t fuck around. And speaking of riffs, if the main riff in the song doesn’t get you moving then something’s wrong in your head and you might want to get that checked out, let’s just hope it’s not contagious.
We Came to Conquer, Axe Cop, and Combat Mosh are prime examples of what I love about Lich King, joking lyrics….done in a serious manner. Once again showing that you don’t have to be all frowns and death/satan to be metal and that joking lyrics don’t have to be about pizza or poop. A great example of non-serious lyrics in a serious manner is “Fan Massacre”. Every band uses this cliché of “Our fans mean the world to us”, “Without our fans we’d be nothing”, etc. etc. Lich King on the other hand set the record straight. They don’t like you and in fact they don’t even need you. They know they're awesome so that’s why they have sent their mascot to slaughter their biggest fans, you know, the ones who donated a lot of money to their Kickstarter page last year to help them get their tour bus. (I shouldn’t have to put this, but you know some people, this song is a joke….I think)
Everything on this album has had a major over-haul since the last album, with tracks like In the End, Devastation showing off huge Demolition Hammer/Morbid Saint influenced riffage, to well thought out lyrics like those in Wage Slave, which bring to light the blinded life we all live, and about half way through the album, Lich King hit you with something of epic proportions, Agnosticism. Jesus Christ! (pun intended) Weighing in around 8 minutes long, Agnosticism take’s the listener into a journey unlike no other. I could write an entire review on this song alone but instead I’ll just summarize it as this. Agnosticism features acoustic interludes done right, Harmonizing leads that would make crocodile cry, a chorus that’s catchier than herpes at a Motley Crue concert, and riffs heavier than a Samoan NFL offensive line man, this track is just further proof that Lich King have evolved into a top contender for “Best Group from the NWOTM”.
The last 2 songs on the album consist of an A+ cover of Agent Steel’s classic “Agents Of Steel” featuring a guest solo by Dave Carlino from Sonic Pulse/Razormaze and a new chapter in the Lich King saga, “Lich King IV (Born Of The Bomb)” which features not one but two! Yes, two members of the legendary Morbid Saint! Jay Visser offers up a tasty guest solo like no other while Tom Martian and Pat Lind spit line after venomous line in a Destruction like fashion. I’m just gonna go on record saying that if Tom or anyone decided to write a book based off the Lich King Saga…..I would read every bit of it. My only complaint about this song is that they should have done it to where Tom was the voice of the Lich King and Pat was the voice of the Nucleomancer cause that would have been rad, hesh, and all of those other slang words for cool. But, well, you know, that's just, like, my opinion, man.
In short, Born Of The Bomb is the album of 2012, actually, I’d go so far as to say that if this album was released last year, I’d place it on top of Warbringer’s Worlds Torn Asunder and Havok’s Time Is Up, and that’s coming from a huge Warbringer fan. This album has everything you would ever need and Lich King continue to prove time and time again that fat, bearded, short haired dudes can still rip the purest thrash there is. If there’s one band that deserves your hard earned money, it’s Lich King!
Till next time y’all! YEE-HAW!
Highlight tracks: Agnosticism
Combat Mosh
In The End, Devastation
Lich King’s “Born Of The Bomb” earns 5 Greasy buckets of chicken out 5!
You can check out Born Of The Bomb in its entirety here: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=UUMENLjd0eeClsC-HPiUzRsA&feature=plcp
Check the band out on facebook: www.facebook.com/lichkingmetal
And most importantly, buy your Lich King goodies here: http://lichking.bigcartel.com
