intervlichking

LICH KING

TOM MARTIN

Lich King from Amherst Massachusetts started in 2004. Since then they have released four albums (Five according to Metal Archives) Necromantic Maelstrom in 2007, Toxic Zombie Onslaught in 2008, World Gone Dead in 2010 and Born of the Bomb in 2012. They also recorded a midi-file CD called Super Retro Thrash. I have spoken to vocalist Tom Martin.

Lich King

Where does the name Lich King come from?

It was just an idea I had for a cool Dungeons & Dragons villain. I never used it, but I kept the name for a fictional band I thought I'd never put into action. Then, weirdly, the ball got rolling. So, yeah, it's from Dungeons & Dragons, not World of Warcraft. It's still nerdy any way you cut it.

I've read that you're not trying to add anything new to the thrash metal genre. Is originality overrated?

I think so, especially among the people clinging like suckerfish to the underbelly of the bloated whale of modern metal. Originality is great, if the music is great. If the music's no good, but it's original, who gives a shit? To the people that sniff at unoriginal, generic music, I put this: many, many original bands have come along since the late eighties. How many of them made an album that was worth a damn?

How was it to play with such legends as Whiplash and Morbid Saint?

We've never played with Whiplash, but we played with Morbid Saint and it was a hell of a show. Nice chaps. Their guitarist threw up on our cables. That was something of an honor.

Super Retro Thrash was an odd album. You recorded it in a old school 8-bit video game-style. What was the reason behind that album?

I made that because I'd made a lot of 8-bit adaptations and realized, shortly before april fool's day 2011, that I had enough to fill an album. I shrugged and threw them together as a bandcamp download.

Then we were approached to make them as a physical release. Nowadays, the result is that people think we made that with the intention to be that album, when in truth it was just crap we had lying around that we scraped together. It's listed on Metal Archives as being one of our full-lengths, haha.

Necromantic Maelstrom (2007)

With all this humor, aren't you afraid that your music might not be taken seriously?

No, which is very different from saying that I acknowledge that it WILL not be taken seriously by some. Anyone, ANYONE that brushes the music off because of the humor is an absolute dolt. The music stands alone, and it's job 1. None of the music is intended to be a latticework upon which to tell dumb jokes. The music is what we're doing this for, and the jokes are just secondary. It's outrageous to think anyone needs their metal to be serious from a lyrical standpoint, or they won't listen.

What do you think of this thrash revival, is it positive or negative to be lumped in with those bands?

It's both. I love thrash and I love that it came back and I think a lot of good albums have come out, but you have to admit that when the detractors talk about "pizza thrash" and soulless retreads of the glory days, there's a lot of validity to that. It doesn't happen as much now but around 2008-2011 the revival was in full swing and you'd see what some of us in the community call the -ATOR bands.

Teenagers that want to jump in on the thrash thing, so they name their band AKTIVATOR, ACCELLERATOR, ELEVATOR or INTERIOR DEKORATOR. They buy high-tops and patched vests off of ebay and off they go. That's what bugs me the most- that they think they have to look a certain way. These are the same people who are concerned with who is and isn't a poser, which is pretty funny.

Toxic Zombie Onslaught (2008)

Are you friends with the guys in Bonded By Blood and Exmortus?

EXMORTUS, yes. Bonded By Blood we have no problem with, but we haven't spoken to them in years. Jose was the guy we knew in Bonded By Blood. We've drifted pretty far apart. Anyway... EXMORTUS are rad.

Why did you split with Stormspell Records?

We didn't, we were never on Stormspell Records. Every release has been licensed through them, but we were never signed or anything.

You're not signed to any label right now. How come? Are you looking for a label to support you?

Not really. Maybe in the earlier days we would have gone for that, but we've heard a few horror stories about labels, and we've hung out with signed bands and seen the extent to which a label helps them. Right now we need a tour booker and a manager / press agent, but as to a label, we've gotten here doing this on our own and I see no reason to change that now. It'd add nothing.

Is it still possible to sell records as a relatively new band on the scene?

Nope. I mean, technically yes, you'll sell a few, but the illusion of making money in metal is a shitty one that bands need to stop being silent on. You're not making money in thrash, sorry. Here, I'll list the new thrash bands that I'd bet are making enough to support them as well as a full-time entry level office job would: 1. MUNICIPAL WASTE. This concludes the list. Everyone else has a day job but pretends they're big shots because feeling like a big shot is the only real pay we get out of this.

What's the highlight of your career?

Umm... probably the few days over which we released BORN OF THE BOMB. The feedback was so good, and the momentum building so quickly, that I didn't know where the wheel would stop rolling. It felt like the sky was the limit. Within a short time we felt human again, but man, that was a heady time. Anytime a crowd is really, really into a show is also a big highlight. It'd be hard to pick one, but there's nothing like that feeling when the whole crowd is into the show and everyone's headbanging.

What's your plans for the near future?

We're doing one thing we haven't announced yet, then doing another thing we have announced. Gotta be vague for now. Also, we're looking to tour to some other continents. Progress has been slow on that front. That's why we need a booker.

Born of the Bomb (2012)

Have you got any funny story to tell, if anything weird has happened while touring or so?

Yeah, it just depends on how funny. Picking one of these is like picking a fish out of a school. The really good ones you can't tell. ...Okay, how about this. When we got back from tour with EXMORTUS, we had a few days with them before they had to roll out to meet up with DESTRUCTION in Texas. I'd been talking with Mario, their drummer, about Titanfall. It was released during our tour and I was telling him about the demo, how much I was looking forward to it. He was looking forward to it too.

Stupidly, I said "well, you'll get to play it in two weeks," forgetting that his tour doesn't end in two weeks. His tour ends in June. He's going to be out there crazy long. So, on our second day back, I packed up my copy and my Xbox One and I brought it to Brian's house for him to play. We didn't wind up playing that much, but I like to think I was a wonderful person for being so selfless and thoughtful.

Any last words for our readers?

Stop being willfully vapid, stop saying "metal is a community, maaan"

and stop worrying about posers.

By/Ruthless

(15-04-2014)