Just in time for Lichmas, Lich King dropped their first EP containing a couple of "do-overs" and a little more. It's supposed to smooth out the waiting and please you until the band unleashes their fifth album, so let's take a quick little look at it.
So what's new and what's not? Well, we get two do-overs from Necromantic Maelstorm and three from Toxic Zombie Onslaught. Do you remember the way those two albums sound like? If not, Lich King is kind enough to remind you; "Our first two albums were recorded and mixed by a guy who had no idea to do either... They stink". Instead of just making an EP they could've gone the way of Exhumed who's not satisfied with the sound of their debut album, and therefore decided to re-record the whole thing. Great idea since one of my favorite Lich King songs are missing in the likes of Attack of the Wrath of the War of the Death of the Strike of the Sword of the Blood of the Beast. Fuck yeah. But oh well, I'm not in Lich King so it's not my decision, all I can do is hope. And it would be an endless task to please everybody.
But let's get to it. The do-overs are great and sound really good thanks to the quality in Lich King's sound which has been developing since World Gone Dead and really achieved on Born of the Bomb. That style continues here as Tom sounds better on the first to albums and delivers good vocals and Brian really has become quite a great drummer. I can clearly hear the advancement and I often find myself mimicking the drums. Black Metal Sucks received a little extra re-doing as the bands now put their pictures up on Facebook and not Myspace, and at the end... you'll be surprised. Then we got the cover of Van Halen's Hot for Teacher which as first was an odd choice to me but it is without their greatest cover to date, and it might stay that way because it's fantastic. It fits their image and gave them the opportunity to put in some funny stuff in the class sections in the song. Too bad guitar solos aren't allowed it class. Then we get a recycled Lichmas gift in the likes of Crossover Songs Are Too Damn Short. It has always been listed as a demo version, so I'm not sure if it's ending up on album five or not. Either way it's a fun, great and strangely enough, an ironic song. But ignore the demo moniker on the song because it sounds fucking great.
And here comes the section that doesn't matter but I just want it in this review. Lich King are fucking great. The promotion they did for this album was phenomenal in the likes of the leaked edition gimmick and just the way the band interacts with their fans. Hiding free download codes on their various sites and on their Minecraft server. I don't play that game but just listen to the idea, it's so genius. You can say what you want about this band, hell back in the day I was not even too crazy about them, but NOBODY interact with their fans the way Lich King does. And they deserve tons of respect for that. At last, a little side note. Look at the cover. It's just fucking glorious and it's just typical of Tom to get such a great idea. If you don't get the reference in the cover, I'm sorry for you, because I won't explain it.
Conclusion time. Do-Over is a great EP for both the newcomer and the old Lich King fan. Of course you could argue over which songs should be on the record, I could even join in but it would not really gain us anything as we don't call the shots and the selection is quite good as it is.
Rating
8.0
