Illdisposed

With The Lost Souls On Our Side

Written by: PP on 28/09/2014 00:05:21

It's appropriate to call Illdisposed an institution within the Danish metal scene. These Århus based death metal giants have been around for almost as long as there has been a metal scene in the country, and they continue to churn out albums every couple of years or so, having reached their 11th album with "With The Lost Souls On Our Side". Whether their influence has been positive or not is a longer discussion, but let's just say we have them to thank for the echoing, terribad writing/production ethos of "let's sound as motherfucking heavy as possible" that has existed within Danish metal bands for quite some time.

After a brief stint with electronic music on "There Is Light (But It's Not For Me)" three years ago, the band quickly returned back to mind-numbingly generic death metal only a year later with "Sense Of Darkness", and that ideal continues on the new album as well. Just like in the past, the band continues to toy with melodic death metal elements instrumentally, but as usual, all is ruined by the 'subwoofer' - the nickname for vocalist Bo Summer thanks to his doubly recorded, echoing, guttural growls that have stayed unchanged for more than 20 years now. And herein lies the core problem with this release and like all other Illdisposed releases I've heard to date: I literally cannot distinguish between songs on this album and songs from "To Those Who Walk Behind Us", which I reviewed six years ago. On many levels I admire a band's ability to stay consistent with their signature sound, but in Illdisposed's case that consists of boring-ass death metal. All the decent serpentine riffs, melodeath leads, and quality instrumentation is simply shoved aside by the unnecessarily monotonous and rumbling growl by Summer. It degrades the Illdisposed material to an extent where it feels like you're listening to a metal album by a bunch of provincial dudes who like to tune up their cars and go out fighting in the weekends.

It's a shame because riff-wise, Illdisposed continue to write some of the catchiest death metal in existence both in Denmark but also internationally. Songs like "Light In The Dark", "No More Devil To Show" and "To Be Dealt With" are quality songwriting that underline why the band is an institution and is so revered in some circles. Just imagine how much better this would sound like with a vocalist whose growl wouldn't just be a hollow, indecipherable one like Bo's. How about one whose growl is clear in such a way that lyrics can actually be heard? So that leaves us at a rating which would be much higher if it wasn't for the vocal department.

Download: No More Devil To Show, Light In The Dark
For the fans of: Panzerchrist, Hatesphere, Hypocrisy, Cannibal Corpse
Listen: Facebook

Release date 27.06.2014
Massacre Records

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