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An adventurous album held back by some simple, tacky compositions.-
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| Lake of Tears: Illwill |
Doom Metal, Gothic Metal, Progressive Metal
AFM Records
June 14th, 2011
- Floating in Darkness - 3:19
- Illwill - 4:19
- The Hating - 4:36
- U.N.S.A.N.E. - 4:51
- House of the Setting Sun - 5:38
- Behind the Green Door - 3:58
- Parasites - 2:55
- Out of Control - 2:55
- Taste of Hell - 3:47
- Midnight Madness - 4:08
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| Review Information |
Release length: 41:26
Review posted on July 1st, 2011
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| | Overall Score: 7.5/10 |
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| Discography |
Discography covers all information available up to day of review and is updated if future albums are reviewed. |
| Full-Length(s): |
Greater Art (1994) • Headstones (1995) • A Crimson Cosmos (1997) • Forever Autumn (1999) • The Neonai (2002)
Black Brick Road (2004) • Moons and Mushrooms (2007) • Illwill (2011)
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| EP(s): |
Lady Rosenred (1997)
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| Single(s): |
Sorcerers/Natalie and the Fireflies (2002)
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| Demo(s): |
Demo I '93
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| Compilation(s): |
Metall Empire (2003) • Greatest Tears Vol. I (2004) • Greatest Tears Vol. II (2004)
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| Review |
Lake of Tears is an obscure, yet to those who know of them the group is a more well known and respected Progressive Metal act from Sweden, having formed back in 1992 and consistantly released solid efforts since their 1994 debut Greater Art. Of course, not everyone has been a fan of each effort released, and many albums in the band's discography has had both rave reviews, as well as dismall ones. While this group isn't necessarily an acquired taste, it's easy to see how the band can sometimes walk the border between typical and beautiful. Of course, for their eigth studio full-length recording, Lake of tears walks that fine line one more time, presenting Illwill a creation that comes off both too simple for it's own good, and too well done to be considered bad.
The band is most known for their combination of Progressive Metal with Gothic and Doom Metal touches. This is what makes the band stand out amongst the many Progressive Metal acts of today, and in many ways their earlier works from mid to late nineties are phenomenal for just those reasons and a genuine passion to the music and crafting it. While the modern albums are npot necessarily a horrible existence for the group, sometimes it becomes pretty clear that those unique aspects are dwindeling. Illwill is proof of this thanks to it's more traditional Progressive Metal musical standpoint, and it's much simpler musical sound. While having a simplistic approach to the music isn't necessarily a bad thing, it leaves the album feeling a little cheap at times, such as with the starting track "Floating in Darkness". The song is a faster paced Progressive track that is very catchy and will make you want to headbang along with it's ruthless edge to the music, but at the same time you can't help but feel the band didn't really put much effort into the song, and it feels a little bland and uninspiring by their standards.
There are still some more Gothic-driven songs, at least with the atmosphere that accompanies these tracks. These tracks typically usher in a little more substance to the songs and pull the album out of just sounding a bit cheapened by the simpler music. The title track "Illwill" is really your first taste of this approach on the album, and while the song does carry the group's more upbeat take on the sound, it retains a bit of a melancholic vibe in atmosphere against the rhaspy modern Thrash-like vocal style. Those vocals, as well as the general speed and manner the music is performed also take the far simpler "The Hating" into the territory of that style for a bit, and the performance by the band is not too bad and comes off energetic and enough to start a mosh wherever the song could be heard, the mosh-enducing vocals and lyrics feel a little too simple for the track, as if penned by a child, which again sadly finds the material to be a little cheapened. But that's not the only time other styles seem to sneak their way into this effort, as the group does acknowledge a more Doom Metal performance on "House of the Setting Sun" that also takes on a more Gothic sound that would come off mid-career H.I.M., with later songs also taking on a more The 69 Eyes approach such as with "Behind the Green Door", and the song prior to it, "U.N.S.A.N.E.", does have a darker atmosphere to it thanks to that more traditional Gothic input that appeared on "Illwill", but at the same time feels more like the group is channeling a Heavy Metal worship band like Manowar and handles the track like an anthem that group would greatly appreciate. In addition, these songs don't quite feel so cheap or simple, and still are not the only outside style inputs you can find on this effort as the band pushes the concepts of Progressive Metal well through the forty plus minutes of Illwill.
The band's ability to incorporate varying style of Metal into the mix really helps this album to stick with the listener and show the skill the group has when they work together. And while the album starts off simpler and feels a bit cheap from it, that's not really how it ends. After a while, the songs feel a little richer, and that simpler manner of composition and performance at the start of Illwill eventually carries on but works better with later musical approaches, such as some of the heavily Gothic influences tracks mentioned above, and the Heavy Metal anthem-like track "U.N.S.A.N.E.". But the song that really seems to work well with this approach is the more old-school Heavy Metal meets Punk track "Parasites", a style that typically was either over the top dynamic, or simpler and carried more attitude with it. While that attitude doesn't quite exist, it definitely shows off the teeth of a heavy Punk impression to the Heavy Metal inspirations of the structure. But perhaps the most interesting bit of this style-defying album is the early Black Metal sound on "Taste of Hell" which gives the song a cold, grim, Norse feeling that bands like Immortal helped to popularize over the years. "Midnight Madness" also has this bit of influence to it, but has a much more ruthless approach to it through a more modern composition instead of the early second-wave style that appears on "Taste of Hell".
Musically, Illwill is clearly all over the board, and while the atmospheres and approaches are heavily varied, it doesn't necessarily hurt the album. For the most part, the band manages to keep a general sound to the album from start to finish that shows off the signature Progressive and Gothic Metal approaches they have been known for. This also leaves the album open in a manner that fans of any style can really sit back and enjoy the material for what it is through their interpretation of it, which typically doesn't loose sight on the fundamentals of that particular style. Sure, not every song will intrigue the listener, and again, this is why the band can often stradle that line between gold and garbage, but do a good job of not falling into either category. But no matter what style the band uses, the sound is always consistant with it. The heavier tracks have a sharp edge to them that feels ruthless at times, especially with the speed is kicked up a couple of notches such as with "Floating in Darkness" and "Midnight Madness", but then the slower Gothic Metal fused tracks, with or without any Doom Metal inspiration, really take on the grim and somber atmospheres, sometimes even a bit melancholic, that one might expect a slower ballad or anthem to have. All of this works well with the cleaner production quality of the album, feeling very modern and far from muddy, but with enough intensity from the instruments themselves, coming off razor sharp and intense or softer to suit the calmer, depressive moods when necessary.
At face value, if you do not give Illwill a complete spin and pay attention to what the band is doing, which is showcasing their abilities well to create music in their own image based on other styles and pioneers of the styles, then you'll immediately lose interesting after "The Hating" due to how simple the release is, and it's making the effort sound rather tacky. However, as you progress, Illwill picks up and Lake of Tears shows you just what they bring to the table. By far it's not the greatest album by this band to date, but it's the most adventurous by far, and shows a band that acknowledges it's still growing and feeling out what path or paths it wants to take musically. If you're already a fan of Lake of Tears, then chances are good you're going to pick up this effort without even having read this review. However, if you're not a fan, it's a decent place to start, and an album you'll definitely find something to like on.
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