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