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Lik (SWE) - Misanthropic Breed review




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Reviewer:
9.0

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8
Band: Lik (SWE)
Album: Misanthropic Breed
Release date: September 2020


01. The Weird
02. Decay
03. Funeral Anthem
04. Corrosive Survival
05. Female Fatal To The Flesh
06. Misanthropic Breed
07. Flesh Frenzy
08. Morbid Fascination
09. Wolves
10. Faces Of Death
11. Becoming

The only thing fans of the band need to know is that this album can hold its own against Carnage.

Lik (SWE) came into Misanthropic Breed under a lot of pressure and a wave of expectation following 2018's brilliant release Carnage, which launched the band to the forefront of the scene and left them having to match such a strong release on their next record. Well judgement day has come for the band in 2020 (and possibly for the rest of us too, who knows?), and they step up to the plate and do not shy away from giving it their best shot. Luckily for the band and listener, Misanthropic Breed does live up to the hype and is in the same ballpark as Carnage in terms of quality.

Misanthropic Breed is one of the most engaging records of the year; once it catches your ear, it holds you right where it wants you until it is done with you and not vice versa, enrapturing you in a perpetual state of engagement with its constant in-your-face attack, with each chord and snare hit tightening its hold on you. While the band do alter their plan of attack here and there, they never relent on the power and immediacy of each song. These alterations give the album a sense of dimension that adds to its depth and that of the void into which it drags you. Tracks like "Morbid Fascination" and "Funeral Anthem" stand out that bit more for their difference in sound and make for compelling listening as a result.

The static-like buzz of the guitars that permeates this record keeps you on your toes and maintains a perpetual feeling of the walls closing in on you from all sides. Like Nicholas Cage in The Wicker Man, the guitars buzz torture you like the hum of bees, though you find yourself enjoying the immersion (well more than Cage did anyway). "Flesh Frenzy" and "Faces Of Death" leave a lasting impression on you due to this sting in the tail? I'll see myself out. The effect-drenched guitars create a tone that envelops you and gives the songs a different edge to many other death metal bands, whilst also helping hide the fact that they do lack somewhat in terms of originality.

Akvik's pained growls sound like the vocal equivalent of the guitar tones, matching their intensity and roughness with a delivery that adds to the overall atmosphere the band paint with their blood-soaked palette onto their savaged canvas. Luckily for fans of the bass, Antman is put high up into the mix, with a loose but bold tone that will rattle your chest like a bowl of jelly. While at times (such as on "Becoming") he is crowded out and left to a faint murmur in amongst the rest of the band, he is prominent enough the rest of the time to sit perfectly in the shadow of the guitars, adding depth to their aural assault while remaining his own instrument.

The songs do lack somewhat in terms of lyrical or topic focus bar one exception, with "Female Fatal To The Flesh" following in Cannibal Corpse's footsteps and creating a song that sounds like the latest track inspired by the cover art for Tomb Of The Mutilated. The rest of the album plays out much like many other death metal albums; while it doesn't detract from the quality of the record, it isn't a groundbreaking advancement for the genre in that regard.

With that said, the album makes up for what it lacks in being groundbreaking with being skull-breaking, with heavy hitters "Decay" and "Corrosive Survival" just slamming into you so hard that you won't have time to dwell on whether what hit you was unique whilst you're picking your teeth up off of the floor.

Misanthropic Breed is certainly a contender for album of the year and can boldly step up onto the podium already for death metal album of the year; whether or not it finishes first, it is nigh-on guaranteed to finish in the top three unless fans of death metal are about to be treated to a hell of a ending to 2020. Lik (SWE) do themselves proud and give fans of the genre something new to froth over.


Rating breakdown
Performance: 9
Songwriting: 8
Originality: 6
Production: 9





Written on 04.10.2020 by Just because I don't care doesn't mean I'm not listening.


Comments

Comments: 3   [ 1 ignored ]   Visited by: 60 users
05.10.2020 - 15:52
DarkWingedSoul

Will check it out for sure !
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05.10.2020 - 16:39
Rating: 7
Troy Killjoy
perfunctionist
This is a new name for me so I don't have any previous experience with them to base my expectations on, but I've read some positive reviews (this one among them) and seen it ranked highly on best of year lists so hopefully it lives up to the hype.
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"Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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05.10.2020 - 22:24
nikarg

It's not doing much more than rehash the Boss HM-2 worship but it is very riffy and that fact saves it from sounding exactly like the other thousand bands that want to become the new Entombed.
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