Lake Of Tears
Illwill

The band originating from Boras, Sweden, is an interesting entity, which, as is often increasingly the case, remains confined to a small circle of admirers. Yet they have produced excellent albums, particularly the two "Forever Autumn" and "Black Brick Road." In between, there were some lineup issues, a brief breakup, and a reunion. A good reason to rediscover them arrived at the end of April when "Illwill" finally saw the light, the eighth full-length album of their career.

Lake Of Tears, led by Daniel Brennare behind the microphone, have developed their own conception of gothic, distant from the decadence in Anathema style, but still always very attentive to atmospheres and sentimentality. Occasionally, a bit of doom appeared in their albums, but fundamentally Lake Of Tears' offering was a gothic metal that was both simple and refined. "Illwill," on the other hand, is a break from the past, although here and there one can still trace glimpses of the gothic that was. Listening to the CD, it is unclear whether this will indeed be the new course of the band, but nonetheless, the album in question represents a shift in their discography. The reason is straightforward: never before have the guitars been so prominent, never have the keyboards played such a minimal role. But also, to dispel any doubts for long-time fans, it is important to highlight how Brennare and his colleagues' compositional soul remains intact, also due to a certain degree of diversification that makes "Illwill" a varied and excellently composed album.

In fact, if the first two tracks "Floating in Darkness" and the title track seem to be just canonical pieces of modern heavy metal, "U.N.S.A.N.E." already proves different and compelling with its changing and more complex rhythm. There is also a nostalgic glance at the past: with "House of the Setting Sun" we probably have the best track of the CD. The calm and reflective atmospheres return, all played on simple guitar chords and good bass work. There is still time for the dark rock of "Behind the Green Door", the most atypical song of the bunch, or for the anthemic heavy of "Out of Control", another little gem of the CD. Finally, comes "Midnight Madness", powerful and angry like never heard before from Lake Of Tears: the overall feel seems that of vintage Satyricon, albeit with a greater sound cleanliness and clean vocals.

If someone had accused this album of being excessively monotonous, they probably did not fully understand the various facets of the platter: "Illwill" contains within it what the band has decided to offer us in the future, as well as crumbs of the past, with some new but fully successful insertions (I am mainly referring to the eighties dark style of "Behind the Green Door" and the aforementioned "Midnight Madness"). We are certainly not facing their best album, but the Swedes have again demonstrated a certain musical taste well conceived by a precise and never banal songwriting. In short, a pleasant surprise.

1. "Floating In Darkness" (3:14)
2. "Illwill" (4:19)
3. "The Hating" (4:37)
4. "U.N.S.A.N.E." (4:51)
5. "House Of The Setting Sun" (5:38)
6. "Behind The Green Door" (3:57)
7. "Parasites" (2:55)
8. "Out Of Control" (2:56)
9. "Taste Of Hell" (3:46)
10. "Midnight Madness" (4:11)