Sweden’s Lake of Tears have been around since 1992. Three members of their line-up have been with them since the beginning, so it is a given that there is a good understanding and the music is tight. “Illwill” is their eighth album. There’s no sign here of the Gothic or Doom style with which they have been associated. “Illwill” is more classic in its Metal style with occasional touches which might be considered Progressive.
“Floating in Darkness”, the opener, and the later “Parasites” have the air of Motorhead about them. Both are classic and in the style of the 80s. While “Parasites” is fast, “Floating in Darkness” has more of a driving beat. It provides a good foil for the more atmospheric title track which follows. The lyrics press home the point about being in a cold, black place. Impressively the deep rhythm guitars reflect the same dark place. By contrast, “The Hating” is more in the vein of melodic Thrash, cleverly toning down. Again the music and lyrics mirror each other. “House of the Setting Sun” is a deep-throated song with a classic and repetitive rhythm but Lake of Tears’s speciality is to switch the mood and what was a fairly standard song becomes epic. The formula seems to be to pick out a rhythm and attach a song to it. So it is with “Behind the Green Door” which has an indie orientation before leaping out of the woodwork with a bagpipe solo. The songs are all original, but highly competent as they are, I was struggling to derive excitement from them. “Out of Control” sounds like a song you’d hear in a pub live gig on a Saturday night. “Taste of Hell” has a similar feel, but in spite of being driving and garnished with rough vocals, I found it a bit of a nonentity and like a cover track of A.N.Other Band’s work. But Lake of Tears do have the ability to surprise. The album ends with “Midnight Madness”, a simple Black Metal track with growled vocals and frosty-sounding drums and guitars in the style of Immortal.
I have mixed views on “Illwill”. It’s more than just a classic album in a retro element. It’s varied in style but after a promising start and in spite of a good final track, I couldn’t ever see myself playing this over and over again. Fans of Lake of Tears and probably a lot more Classic Metal lovers will appreciate it more than I did, I suspect. “Illwill” is absolutely fine, but I just can’t find enough to get too enthusiastic about it.
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