Review by Elijah on January 31, 2020.

S/2004s3 shows that brutal death metal is still relevant, strong, powerful. Though the genre basically died off in popularity in 2005/2006, there's a select number of bands that still maintain the talent to make more material, this band being one of them. For most fans of brutal death, what you normally do is find the few bands that you like and you stick with those for a while. You try to find more bands/albums that you might like but it doesn’t appeal to you as much as your favorite bands do. Well, that’s this album's purpose. Im so glad I came across this EP, finally gave me some more stuff to listen to and appreciate.

For some reason this band is obsessed with space, specifically UFO's and the theory of aliens, and they do a pretty good job presenting it in their music. With the titles of their songs being names of planets/beings in space, and having literally all the lyrics in some sort of space language, and not any actual words. They pretty much get full points for that aspect. The intro is what prepares you for all the brutality this has to offer. Space, extraterrestrials, sci-fi, and monstrous alien creatures. It perfectly portrays the feeling and mood of space. Unknown and undiscovered, ready for upcoming action.

After the intro, you immediately get a face full of brutality, a constant riff with snare blasting to back it up, then the vocals come in and create the atmosphere they claim to present. This band has major talent and consistency with every track spread-out and written creatively. The bass is very present on this, and adds more backbone, crispiness, and vibe to the music. And once again, the drums are just downright amazing; the sound of the drums themselves, and the drummer's musical ability. The musical aspect gets a 10/10.

All the instruments are good, and all tracks are definitely worth the listeners' time. Good drum sound, especially the snare, perfect guitars, noticeable bass, and great vocals. The vocals are just the good amount of high and low, the perfect balance. There isn't anything bad here at all, no downsides, no disadvantages at all. The lyrical content is on point, the musicality is on point, literally nothing at all is wrong here. One of the most talented, flawless, perfect brutal death records I've ever heard.

As I said in the beginning, this EP shows that they brutal death genre is still alive today in the underground and that the artists are still going at their bests and most talented. This opens up the gateway for more upcoming brutal death metal to spawn in the underground. I wish this band would make their debut album already, if they can make an EP this flawless, imagine how that album will be. If you haven't heard this EP already, go listen to it NOW. I guarantee you WILL NOT be disappointed.

Rating: 10 out of 10

Review by Elijah on January 31, 2020.

S/2004s3 shows that brutal death metal is still relevant, strong, powerful. Though the genre basically died off in popularity in 2005/2006, there's a select number of bands that still maintain the talent to make more material, this band being one of them. For most fans of brutal death, what you normally do is find the few bands that you like and you stick with those for a while. You try to find more bands/albums that you might like but it doesn’t appeal to you as much as your favorite bands do. Well, that’s this album's purpose. Im so glad I came across this EP, finally gave me some more stuff to listen to and appreciate.

For some reason this band is obsessed with space, specifically UFO's and the theory of aliens, and they do a pretty good job presenting it in their music. With the titles of their songs being names of planets/beings in space, and having literally all the lyrics in some sort of space language, and not any actual words. They pretty much get full points for that aspect. The intro is what prepares you for all the brutality this has to offer. Space, extraterrestrials, sci-fi, and monstrous alien creatures. It perfectly portrays the feeling and mood of space. Unknown and undiscovered, ready for upcoming action.

After the intro, you immediately get a face full of brutality, a constant riff with snare blasting to back it up, then the vocals come in and create the atmosphere they claim to present. This band has major talent and consistency with every track spread-out and written creatively. The bass is very present on this, and adds more backbone, crispiness, and vibe to the music. And once again, the drums are just downright amazing; the sound of the drums themselves, and the drummer's musical ability. The musical aspect gets a 10/10.

All the instruments are good, and all tracks are definitely worth the listeners' time. Good drum sound, especially the snare, perfect guitars, noticeable bass, and great vocals. The vocals are just the good amount of high and low, the perfect balance. There isn't anything bad here at all, no downsides, no disadvantages at all. The lyrical content is on point, the musicality is on point, literally nothing at all is wrong here. One of the most talented, flawless, perfect brutal death records I've ever heard.

As I said in the beginning, this EP shows that they brutal death genre is still alive today in the underground and that the artists are still going at their bests and most talented. This opens up the gateway for more upcoming brutal death metal to spawn in the underground. I wish this band would make their debut album already, if they can make an EP this flawless, imagine how that album will be. If you haven't heard this EP already, go listen to it NOW. I guarantee you WILL NOT be disappointed.

Rating: 10 out of 10

Review by Felix on June 3, 2019.

Run for cover, the comedians called Lich King enter the stage for the third time. I fear another dose of pretty nonsensical, sometimes "funny" thrash that does absolutely not meet my sense of humor. But lo and behold, already the intro called - great idea - "Intro" attracts my attention. Firstly, the album scores with a powerful and aggressive sound, well-balanced, clean, but not sterile. In its best moments, the record confronts the audience with a wall of sound that leaves no chance to escape. Secondly, already the first tones of the opening riff have a serious, nearly dramatic touch and the rasping guitar connect the intro with the first regular song in a convincing manner. Still better, "Act of War" spreads energetic vibes, does not lack speed and relies on its massive power. The double bass does not sleep, the guitars know only one direction - forward - and solely the lead vocalist does not surpass an ordinary level. Nevertheless, he presents his best performance so far. Good start, especially when you do not have great expectations...

Tracks like "A Storm of Swords" connect rapid sections with heavyweight mid-tempo riffing and reveal a certain depth that was missing on the former outputs. Moreover, although this track almost reaches the seven minutes mark, it does not lack substance. The band avoids repetitive patterns, and this lends World Gone Dead a further positive element. It is an ironic twist of fate that the fifth track is called "Waste". Such a song name would have been nearly programmatic for the first albums, but here it has actually no right of existence. Apart from this rather academic debate, this song is not immune against a typical weakness of Lich King: they celebrate velocity for the sake of, well, velocity. That's no cardinal sin, yet I do not know why they do this more or less absurd tempo again and again ("Behaver" points in the same direction). Sometimes it is more useful to give the riffs, leads and lines some room to breathe. Nevertheless, the song-writing has reached a much better level than before. It's no painstaking task to listen to the entire album and I wish I could say the same with regard to each and every work of the dudes.

Tempestuous eruptions such as "Terror Consumes" leave a proper trail of devastation, because they find the right balance between high speed and the sufficient quantum of melodic elements, but a pretty lenient number ("Grindwheel") also scores with its coherent riffing. As a result, the cover version of Slayer does not mark the undisputable climax of the output and I admit that I thought I would have to write the exact opposite before I dived into the album. Of course, Tom Martin does not have five percent of the demonic aura of the young Tom Araya,. The only thing they have in common is their first name - but this is not the crucial fact here. More relevant is that Lich King's own compositions show a competitive design. I still like their instrumental parts more than those where Martin stands in the foreground. Anyway, I can recommend this full-length to the freaks of the sub-genre. It's no milestone, but a solidly constructed work. You have run for cover? Why the hell did you do so? Come on, climb from the depths of your shelter, to quote Exciter, and lend an ear to World Gone Dead.

Rating: 7 out of 10