ALBUM REVIEW: United In Chaos – Summoning The Lich

For many, melodic death metal conjures images of the legions of bands that broke out in the Stockholm and Finnish scenes in the late ’90s, combining the brutality of old-school death metal with a healthy dose of NWOBH melodies and, in some cases, much maligned clean singing. But across the Atlantic the melodic death metal scene was vastly different. Faster, harsher and more technically minded, North American melodic death metal was another beast entirely, the charge led by now veterans of the death metal scene, THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER. Fast-forward 18 years from their esteemed debut and the scene they helped mould is still going strong. Newcomers, Missouri-based SUMMONING THE LICH stand as ironclad proof of that fact with their debut album United In Chaos. 

The lyrical concept of United In Chaos is ambitious, to say the least. To serve as the lyrical foundation of SUMMONING THE LICH, frontman David Bruno has engaged in one of the most extensive pieces of world-building in heavy music, creating his own world of Tolkien-ish proportions. The fantasy story running through the record follows a druid, ageless, nameless, having spent an eternity protecting the Kingdom of Rodor from the realms of chaos, without acknowledgement or thanks as he turns from his duty and embraces the darkness become a lich and marching on the Kingdom he once protected at the head of an unstoppable force. Drawing parallels to video games, fantasy novels and table-top RPGs, the subject matter of United In Chaos is just the right amount of nerdy – but SUMMONING THE LICH have the chops to back it up.

Lead single The Nightmare Begins opens proceedings in majestic fashion. There’s no self-indulgent intro track here, no long meandering – SUMMONING THE LICH throw down the gauntlet straight off the bat with blistering riff work and an utterly vicious vocal performance from Bruno – who, it seems, graduated from the Trevor Strnad school of death metal vocals with honours. Melodic flourishes and a meaty bass tone cut through the brutality, and some stunning solo work rounds of the opening track – but the good times are only just beginning.

Cult of the Ophidian brings a bit more atmosphere into play alongside a massively catchy chorus and some more bursts of lead breaks, while The Gatekeeper is a knuckle-dragging bruiser of a track, and the following Demon of the Snow ramps up the tempo with melodious brilliance. Approaching the mid-way point, Predatory Reflection sees SUMMONING THE LICH delve into their most chaotic sound yet, riffs bouncing off riffs, rising tremolos and unrelenting blasts dominate the soundscape.

It’s when they move into Side B that things really get pushed up a notch, though. Acid Reign is a straight banger, the sense of urgency giving way to almost bluesy lead breaks and Bruno‘s scream refrain of “All will burn in the acid!” United In Chaos‘ title track keeps pushing the quality up, the doomy intro bursting with pace with little warning, while the stank-face inducing chorus line of “All hail his Inglorious Reign!” brings a touch of groove into play. Bruno even experiments with some Travis Ryan-esque goblin-sounding vocals – a subtle touch.

From there, there’s little messing around as SUMMONING THE LICH perform a thunder-run towards the end of their debut. Descend is a rapid blitzkrieg of riffing and THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER-isms, while Hymn (of the Witches of the West) proves to be a veritable masterclass on how to write a technical, brutal, melo-death track in 2021 and Death Crystal should come with a public health warning; trying to headbang at the velocity these riffs demand is a danger to you and those around you. The closing one-two punch of Temple of the Bone and The Lure of the Necromancer rounds off United in Chaos marvellously, the former really pushing the atmosphere the album has thus far established to a new height, while the closer ends things on a majestic high, showing a level of sonic darkness that pushes SUMMONING THE LICH‘s brand of melodic death metal harder and stronger.

The lyric foundation of United In Chaos is brilliant, but it takes more than an enticing story to make a good album. Thankfully, SUMMONING THE LICH back up their storytelling mastery with an arcane barrage of riff magic. From a musical perspective, the quintet will win few prizes for innovation in their style of death metal – but neither are they trying to reinvent the genre. United In Chaos is a masterclass of storytelling, a listening experience steeped in fantasy and escapism, and crammed from start to finish with riffs of the more fun variety.

Rating: 8/10

United In Chaos is set for release February 26th via Prosthetic Records. 

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