Band:	Lich King
Album:	World Gone Dead
Style:	Thrash metal
Release date:	June 15, 2010
Guest review by:	K✞ulu

01. Intro
02. Act Of War
03. Ed-209
04. A Storm Of Swords
05. Waste
06. Terror Consumes
07. Grindwheel
08. Behaver
09. Aggressive Perfector [Slayer cover]
10. Lich King III (World Gone Dead)

I like thrash, but I don't like regurgitation of ideas, from which the current thrash revival suffers at least to some extent. And while Lich King are not completely devoid of this problem, they know how to combine their influences into an album, which sounds relevant despite having been recorded twenty-odd years after the genre's heyday. Besides, I wouldn't be wasting my scarce time writing this review if this band wasn't worth it.

As some of you may know, I am a sucker for catchiness in songwriting, which Lich King deliver quite skillfully on World Gone Dead. Oh, and a word I try not to overuse (for diversity's sake) in my reviews: diversity. Yes, the little crook made its way to this album, too. Although the overall song structures are simplistic in a thrash way, each track has something memorable to offer: either the main riff or a solo or vocal performance or any other kind of detail that sticks out (think Kill 'Em All). Case in point: "Grindwheel." A groovy, rocking, gargantuan central riff impending in crescendo is taken over by some bad-ass Sean Killian-styled rendition in the verse, which is then changed by some nice growling in the chorus. There you have it: simple, diverse and catchy. Two-minute engagement in slushy soloing sounds a bit off on this song (despite adding points to diversity), but it is nothing terribly tasteless. "Grindwheel" definitely kicks some major arse just like most tracks on the album. Other killers like "Act of War" and "ED-209" inevitably induce strong foot-tapping and head-banging patterns in one's behavior and a burning desire to see these guys live. I mean start listening to "ED-209" and tell me what you want to do after the vocalist screams, "Go!"

Besides the little crook mentioned in the previous paragraph, another word that would describe this album well is balance. We are offered proportional amounts of fast and mid-tempo songs; a lot of memorable soloing; varied and quite effective vocal delivery; technical guitar playing; pounding, audible bass; suitable drumming; and definitely correct production. There is also a healthy dose of humor on World Gone Dead: finishing a song with, "Lyrics don't mean shit" is pretty funny, especially when they really don't (check out "Behaver"). The vocabulary on that song is very "unusual" for thrash, and the chances are high you will laugh your ass off. Besides all this goodness, Lich King have made a really masterful, extreme "Aggressive Perfector" cover making Slayer's original version sound more like Iron Maiden (no offense intended).

If you are following the ongoing thrash revival or/and you are a fan of Slayer, Exodus, and especially Vio-lence (by the way, "Waste" features a distinct riff from "Bodies on Bodies"), definitely check World Gone Dead out: this hasn't been a particularly great year for thrash, and Lich King have actually created one the best albums in the genre.