Music / Lich King

Bragging rights the spoils in a war of tiny men
When the dust begins to settle, the fight begins again
Pettiness a virtue, the badge of piss and pride
What you have created, it's a thrash crime
Harvesting rewards from the hours used in spite
Tearing out the throat of a fool because it's right
Obfuscate the meaning and re-educate the swine
Opinion is invalid, it's a thrash crime

— "Act of War"

Over there in Norway, the churches all burn down
Let's go dress in goth clothes and get painted like a clown
Awesome leather armbands with spikes like two feet long
Hair is parted down the middle, frowning like a frog

In league with the devil, talking Satan, skulls and hell
Making mommy mad, cause that's original
If you hate good music, then it can't hurt to go
Image-conscious assholes, black metal fashion show

—"Black Metal Sucks"

Lich King is a Thrash Metal band from Massachusetts that was founded in 2004 by vocalist Tom Martin (who may have also played some or all of the instruments for the first two albums; the real identities of the musicians on those albums are not given). Lich King are heavily influenced by Exodus, Vio-Lence, and Slayer and are known for their humorous lyrics, Heavy Meta, and their very brash image and promotional techniques. The band finally found its feet in 2009-2010 with its third LP World Gone Dead, which featured a full band lineup and massively improved production.

As of 2015, Tom Martin has officially left the band on a live basis, citing burnout and a need for a more stable source of income. He will most likely continue to work behind the scenes and may or may not also contribute to the songwriting process and provide vocals on the next studio release, but it's all up in the air.

Current lineup:

• Tom Martin - Songwriting (stopped doing vocals full-time in 2015 and eventually gave it up completely)
• Zach Smith - Vocals
• Brian Westbrook - Drums
• Joe Nickerson - Rhythm guitar
• Mike Dreher - Bass
• Nick Timney - Lead guitar

Former members:

• Kevin Taylor - Guitars
• Erick Herrera - Guitars
• Rob Pellegri - Lead guitar

Albums:

• 2007 - Necromantic Maelstrom - "Lich King", "Mascot War"
• 2008 - Toxic Zombie Onslaught - "Attack of the Wrath of the War of the Death of the Strike of the Sword of the Blood of the Beast", "Black Metal Sucks"
• 2010 - World Gone Dead - "Act of War", "ED-209", "Behaver"
• 2012 - Born of the Bomb - "Combat Mosh", "Wage Slave", "We Came to Conquer"
• 2017 - The Omniclasm

See World of Warcraft if you were looking for the "Wrath of the Lich King" expansion.

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Lich King show examples of:

• Album Title Drop: All albums except Necromantic Maelstrom.
• Ascended Extra: Nick Timney was a longtime live guitarist (as Rob Pellegri could not tour and could only play live very infrequently) before being inducted in full-time after Rob stepped down altogether.
• The Band Minus the Face: Probably. Tom isn't 100% gone, but he plays maybe two or three shows a year tops and is a songwriter first and foremost.
• Berserk Button: Don't mention to the band that the name is a reference to Dungeons & Dragons.
• Big Rock Ending: Lich King III, We Came To Conquer.
• Boastful Thrash: Too many of their songs to list, most notably "Black Metal Sucks"
• Bragging Theme Tune: The eponymous "Lich King" songs, one on each album.
• Chiptune: Super Retro Thrash is a compilation of various Lich King songs transposed to NES chiptunes.
• Cover Version: "Lesson in Violence", "Bodies on Bodies", "Aggressive Perfector", "Agents of Steel"
• Disproportionate Retribution: "Grindwheel" is about crushing a burglar to death under a millstone.
• Drum Roll, Please: "All Hail".
• Epic Instrumental Opener: The simply named "Intro" from World Gone Dead
  • Parodied with "Cheesy Metal Intro" from Toxic Zombie Onslaught.
  • If you exclude the Crowd Chant, then "All Hail" from Born Of the Bomb as well.
• Epic Rocking: Agnosticism and Lich King IV.
• Flame Bait: "Black Metal Sucks". The band wouldn't have it any other way.
• Heavy Meta: And how!
• Heavy Mithril: "A Storm of Swords", based on A Song of Ice and Fire
• Homage: "Axe Cop". And with gusto.
• The Horde: World Gone Dead, Toxic Zombie Onslaught and Necromantic Maelstrom album art, featuring zombies!
• Iconic Song Request: A ton.
• Idiosyncratic Album Theming: For the cover art (and the self-titled songs), it's usually the The Lich King doing something involving a horde of fiends, or certain destruction.
• In Name Only: More or less. Tom hasn't 100% left yet, but he's done on a live basis and may or may not also be done on a studio basis.
• Kneel Before Zod: Lich King III.
• Mascot: The Lich King, featured prominently on the band's album covers.
• Metal Head: They are the self-proclaimed "Greatest Thrash Metal Band In The Universe".
• Metal Scream: Classic Type 4. Can be a Type 1 sometimes.
• Nice Guy: Behaver.
  • And then you get a nicely placed Precision F-Strike.
• Old Shame: Tom (and the band as a whole, but especially Tom) hates Necromantic Maelstrom; while they did rerecord two songs off that album for Do-Over, they will not play anything from that album live ever again and would like to treat it as an embarrassing footnote. They're also not overly fond of Toxic Zombie Onslaught, but that has more to do with the production; they still play material off of it live and don't outright despise it like the former.
• Parody: CROSSOVER SONGS ARE TOO! DAMN! SHORT!!!
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: From "Waste":
  HUMAN HISTORY DIDN'T NEED YOU! YOU AREN'T WANTED! AND! ARE! DISMIIIIIIIIIIIIISSED!
  • See 'Parody'.
  • ED! TWO! OH! NINE!
  • "WE! ALL! SHALL! DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEE!!"
• Refuge in Audacity: Say what you want about their sense of humor, they have huge brass ones.
• Religion Rant Song: Agnosticism, Type 2. Surprisingly subverted as it makes no distinction as to whether science/religion is wrong, just that the end result is the same.
• Serious Business: Lich King loves to make light of everyone's Serious Business.
• Sequel Song: So far, anything after Lich King II
  • Lich King III and IV seem to be a bit more refined, as they tie into each other.
• Shout-Out: "We Came To Conquer"
  Hey, Gama Bomb
  You didn't write this riff
  so hey, Warbringer
  Eat our Lich King dicks
  Hey, Havok
  We just put you to shame...
  —Song Breakdown

  ...The Waste was a starter,
  But we're the main course
  Maybe other bands play
  and maybe Manowar kills...
  —Final Pre-Chorus
• Stuff Blowing Up: Born Of The Bomb album cover.
• Take That!: Black Metal Sucks, played for laughs in We Came To Conquer.
• Take That, Audience!: Fan Massacre, a song about how much the band hates their fans and how they will kill them, in typical sarcastic fashion. To wit:
  "Our mascot himself is the hitman we call for the job
  We gave him your addresses,
  sent him to carve up you slobs
  Your endless sycophantism we cannot forgive
  You haven't bought enough merch
  to allow you to live"
• Terrible Artist: Vocalist Tom Martin; averted! He's also a comic artist when not with Lich King.
  • Who do you think created the album art for the third and fourth Lich King album? ^note For proof, this is a step by step of the creation of the album art for ''Born Of the Bomb''.
  • AND was responsible for the creation of the Bonded By Blood logo?
• This Is for Emphasis, Bitch!: "Hey, guess what, BITCH, we're back, let's get down to business!"
• This Loser Is You: Waste and Act of War.
• Title-Only Chorus: Agnosticism, Toxic Zombie Onslaught.
• We All Die Someday: In The End, Devastation.
• Working-Class Hero: Inverted with Wage Slave; in that everyone is only spending money, in debt, and unable to do a thing.
• You Cannot Grasp the True Form: What was that thing The King is looking at on the fourth album cover?
  • Judging by the lyrics, it's possibly another lich created by nuclear war.

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