Lake Of Tears
Illwill

July 2011
Released: 2011, AFM
Rating: 3.0/5
Reviewer: JP

I really admire and respect Lake Of Tears. I was lucky enough to latch onto the band quite early in their career and was an ardent follower of the first decade of the band, buying GREATER ART on cassette and spinning the hell out of ‘Raven Land’ from HEADSTONES. Basically it is the Black Mark years that are closet to my heart for these guys. Then somehow the band dropped off my radar and I missed the last two albums on Noise and Dockyard.



Illwill is the bands eighth album and the band presents us another somewhat uncharacteristically dark album cover. However, the cover art (and title) does match the mood and attitude of the music. This is the longest that the band has gone between albums and maybe they built up a lot of anger or frustration because by their standards this is a very dark, angry, very ‘Metal’ album. Maybe the length of time between albums, label changes, or perhaps new guitarist, Fredrick Jordanius has brought new fire into the band. Either way, it’s a pretty heavy slab of Metal.



Lake Of Tears have played down the doom, sludge and stoner components on this record and cranked it up a notch. Perhaps the cut ‘Behind The Green door’ is the only track that really possesses what many consider to be the band signature sound. The album is generally faster and more aggressive in execution than many of their other records. Tracks like ‘Parasites’ with it’s driving pace and hostile chorus, ‘Parasites, You Fucking Parasites!’ is not a lyrical line that I expected from Lake Of Tears! It’s not bad, at all just different especially with the ripping solo near the end. This album will certainly please those who felt that the bands melodramatic, trippy, gothism’s were too heavy handed. ILLWILL is stripped down, fast and mean, again by the bands standards. It may alienate the die-hard fans but bring a few more on board.



Lake Of Tears have always been mildly inconsistent, but always of the highest quality. Years down the road ILLWILL may be a bit of a darkhorse in the bands catalogue but one that I hope will be embraced buy it’s legion of fans, myself included.