LEKAMEN ILLUSIONEN KALLET (LIK) is a Swedish band who formed in 200.  It is actually more of a one man project from Graav.  "Avgrundspoetens Flamma," is his fifth full length album under the moniker. This album is certainly one of the more unique releases I have heard lately.  Although rooted in dark occult rock and folk l, LIK also have some black metal elements.  This makes for a diverse, if  laid back, sound.  The album could benefit in being more extreme in places because the occult rock parts, which are the bulk of the album, bored me in a big way.

One of my biggest problems with the album is the layering of vocals—it is very annoying and off putting to me.  Graav has a deep, clean baritone singing voice that holds up well, especially in the album's more Gothic inspired sections.  Graav also has decent blackened vocals as well.  The problem is that in so many places they are layered on top of each other and, well, that kind of aspect when overdone tends to grate on me.  With both styles being solid, I think the album would sound so much better if one or the other was used at one time.  What's worse, when they are mixed, the clean vocals are much louder than the extreme ones, which make them come off overbearing and while the blackened ones sound weaker.

The production has problems as well: it is too flat.  It doesn't sound good nor bad but just...sort of there.  So not only is this album musically boring, it also sounds that way as well. Musically, the album's black metal elements are not overly extreme but do sound ancient, arcane, and mysterious.  With that being said, the album does tend to shy away from the elements in favor of a more Gothic, occult rock vibe.  As I mentioned before, while it does give the album an unique sound, it doesn't grasp my interests very often

"Svartkonst," opens up the album with dark rock riffs and deep cleans.  There is some groove to the riffs, offset by the lead guitar which I found distracting.  The overall vibe of the song is more rock and roll and I'm not sure if it is the best representation of how to open up a track.  It isn't  a bad song but nothing very important seems to be going on here musically. The title track is the next song and it fares a little better.  The somber riffs mix better in with the leads and the pacing is better overall. With that being said, there isn't anything in the song worth going back to until about the 4:41 mark when the band finally lets the black metal elements a little.  The riffs are denser, dirtier, and the vocals have much more venom to them.

At this point, the album is clearly better in small bursts or in small movements.  For example, The first couple minutes of "Helgedomens dödsportar," finds the band returning to more extreme measures but it doesn't last long before turning back into lazy, languishing, rock that goes no where. Trudging through the rest of the album is a chore because of pacing issues and track lengths.  The first four songs hover within the five minute range but suddenly the later half features two long tracks, one at nine minutes, "Kvavan," and another at over eleven with "Avtryck." This is absolutely ridiculous because neither of these songs do anything to progress the album's sound or consist of anything that couldn't be finished in under five.  I'm not sure why the album didn't balance the shorter and longer tracks better but I suppose, at this point, it doesn't matter.

I don't write reviews to trash albums but I just can't find anything of real value here other than the brief moments of black metal.  This is a case of being unique not always meaning being good.