Swedish death metal band LIK released their latest single, “Morgue Rat,” along with an accompanying video, as announced on Metal Blade Records’ platforms. The track, featuring guest vocals by Linnea Landstedt (Tyranex, Ice Age), is part of their fourth full-length album, “Necro”, set to drop on April 18 via Metal Blade Records.
Hailing from Stockholm, LIK—comprising Tomas Åkvik (vocals, guitar), Niklas “Nille” Sandin (guitar), Chris Barkensjö (drums), and Joakim Antman (bass)—delivers a heavy, groovy track inspired by the infamous Californian necrophiliac Karen Greenlee. Åkvik describes “Morgue Rat” as a song about a mortician unable to resist the dead, marking the band’s first use of clean-ish guitars. Recorded at NBS Studio in Söderfors with producer Lawrence Mackrory, Necro features 10 tracks of blood-soaked intensity, blending old-school Swedish death metal influences from Dismember, At The Gates, and Entombed with progressive twists. The album’s zombified cover art, created by Stockholm-based tattooist Jens Olsson, complements its shock-horror themes of war, death, and murder.
LIK, whose name translates to “corpse” in Swedish, has been with Metal Blade since their 2018 album Carnage, following their 2015 debut Mass Funeral Evocation. After recording 2020’s Misanthropic Breed in their rehearsal space, the band prioritized a proper studio experience for Necro, capturing the music live over three days before Åkvik tracked vocals at Mackrory’s Rorysound Studios in Uppsala. With a diverse tempo and relentless attitude, Necro aims to honor the genre’s roots while pushing LIK’s boundaries. Stream “Morgue Rat” now and pre-order “Necro” to experience their latest chapter in Swedish death metal.