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

Review by Felix on November 16, 2019.

Necrophobic, the experts of painstakingly constructed black metal with an extra evil aura, released Bloodhymns in 2002. The band seemed to be in a very good condition. Equipped with an unholy rage, the four-piece forged an album that does not need a warm-up period. Instead, all churches go up in flames as soon as the first tones of the opener fill the room. Of course, not in reality. Let me remind you that Necrophobic originate from Sweden, not from Norway. Fine difference! But the houses of God start to burn in a figurative sense and the musicians, as much as I regret it, do not know where the extinguishers are. And even if they knew it - they would not use them.

Malicious riffs, flattening leads, sadistic vocals and high velocity drumming create very malevolent scenarios. Blood-soaked melodies justify the title of the album. Necrophobic prove one more time that they are able to establish a viable connection between the most furious parts which drag the listener down to hell and extremely dark harmonies that deliver a profound blackness. These two main components mutually influence each other in order to result in pretty perfect songs. Neither the rapid eruptions nor the majestic, more melodic sequences appear as a value in itself. Each part is aligned with further sections of the entire song and the smooth breaks and tempo changes never hurt the flow of the material. Even short acoustic breaks or screaming solo guitars submit themselves to the overarching goal, the creation of dense, perfectly flowing and monolithic compositions. Additionally, it goes without saying that the professionalism of Necrophobic does not allow a weak production. The voice and the guitars stand in the foreground without taking the rhythm section the air to breathe.

The first half of the album discards all scruples. Each and every band member has made a contribution to the song-writing and the manual know-how is out of question. Songs like the straight opener or the slightly more complex "Mourningsoul" want to engulf the listener in a maelstrom of vehemence and viciousness, while the majestic leads of "Shadowseeds" highlight other aspects. The unswerving double bass rolls out the red carpet for the accusing guitars and the lead vocals prefer a demonic approach instead of the usual mix of aggression and insanity. Unfortunately, Necrophobic are not able to keep the quality level of the first five, six songs. No need to panic, they do not make experiments. The interesting song formula remains the same, but the riffs are a tad less stunning. "Cult of Blood", for example, does not lack of anger and lustful destruction, nevertheless, it fails to stick in my mind. Good, but not outstanding - this describes the last tunes in a fitting manner. Anyway, passion and musicality are the main pillars of this full-length which always finds its way back from the shelf into the CD player. Listen to the hymns and enjoy.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10

Review by Denis on December 26, 2002.

Today, just like every other weekday I was on my way to work and since I hadn't take my usual caffeine dose, I was essentially the walking dead. I went into the building, took the wrong door and felt down... down into a giant spider web. Without any delay, this ugly looking arachnid monster went to greet me with a sadistic smile. Pointing toward the broken window, I was forced to look at the sun, admiring the beautiful effect of rays passing through the web. Then all of a sudden, with its powerful mandible, it cut clear my left arm. In great pain and fear, blinded by my own stream of blood, I turned to beat the beast but too late since off came my right arm. The creature seemed to take pleasure in my pain, if it had a visible mouth I am sure I would have been able to see it smirk. In an eerie screech the spider doubled in size as it reared up on its hind legs and then in one foul swipe of its front legs... my legs were no more. Blood oozed from my gaping wounds, causing me to nearly pass out in shock. Welcome to the world of "Bloodhyms".

What's the matter with me? I just got inspired by this new album from Necrophobic. After a successful line of releases with Black Mark but being unhappy with them, they signed with Hammerheart Records and it turned out a pretty satisfying deal, since soon after they started to write material for their first offering with the new label.

"Bloodhyms" is for sure a pretty scary and heavy opus! Top-notch extreme black/death metal with excellent musicians that bring everything to the limit and everybody in hell! Are fast, metered, melodic, aggressive, with lots of guitar riffs and ferocious vocals all how you like your metal? Well, you can't find a better band than Necrophobic to satisfy your demanding taste. These Swedish are masters of their art and their professionalism bleeds throughout the vampiric compositions available here. Even if you're not a fanatic of extreme metal, you can only appreciate and discover what made this band so popular. I specially enjoyed the last two numbers and the extreme metalists would simply go nuts on pieces like: 'Dreams Shall Flesh', 'Act of Rebellion', 'Cult of Blood'.

Bottom Line: Please note that "Bloodhyms" is intended to be played loud. Do you hear what I'm saying? No! Good! You got the point.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 9
Atmosphere: 8.5
Originality: 8
Production: 8
Overall: 8.5

Rating: 8.4 out of 10