It was a slightly cold, and very grey day that led up to Swedish death metal outfit Lik’s debut performance in Birmingham, and their second in the UK following their set at Damnation Festival in Leeds the day before.
Following support slots from Master’s Call and Blasphemer, who warmed the crowd up very well for the main attraction (indeed, the latter got an especially raucous response!) it was time for the awesome Lik to take to the stage. After being seriously impressed by their second album Carnage, I’ve been very eager to see them live and even though the show was a bit of a nightmare logistically (roughly a two and a quarter hour drive each way, along with a 5am start in work the day after) I knew it was a show I couldn’t miss!
Opening with To Kill followed by Rid You Of Your Flesh, the first two tracks of Carnage served as a powerful opening to their set. Their music sounded just as raw and powerful in a live environment, and the tight delivery meant the songs really had some extra bite as the band moved together as a single unit. There was also a nice, relaxed vibe in the room between tracks, with frontman Tomas describing the day’s weather as having been ‘beautiful, and exactly like back home in Sweden’, and talking about Lik’s ‘hit songs’ from their debut album, as well as making amusing small talk with some of the audience over the course of the night.
The set featured a good mixture of songs, with some of my highlights being The Deranged (it was great to hear how well my favourite track from Carnage translated live), Cannibalistic Infancy (it packed a serious punch over its two minute duration!) and closer Skin Necrosis really finished the set on a high. However the best song of the set was Serum 141 – the yelled line of ‘murder, death, hate, kill!’ was seriously powerful, although it would have been nice to perhaps get a bit of crowd participation for that section!
Lik gave an utterly magnificent performance from start to finish. It was a headbangingly good night, and it was really fun to be a part of it all. If this band is playing a show near you, then make sure you head over to it!
