Band:
Bo Summer – Subwoofer
Jakob Batten – Guitar
Franz Hellboss – Guitar
Jonas Kloge – Bass
Thomas Jensen - Drums
Diskography:
Four Depressive Seasons (1993)
Return from Tomorrow (1994)
Submit (1995)
Helvede (1996)
There‘s Something Rotten in the State of Denmark (1997)
Retro‘ (2000)
Kokaiinum (2001)
1-800 Vindication (2004)
Burn Me Wicked (2006)
The Prestige (2008)
To Those Who Walk Behind Us (2009)
Info
Produced and mixed by Tue Madsen
Released 1/4-2011
Reviewed 6/4-2011
Links:
illdisposed.com
myspace
massacre
Musically it is quite easy to hear that this band belong in Scandinavia, their melodic death metal has a very scandinavian touch. This means that it is melodic death metal with some keyboard stuff and focus on the melodies rather than the heaviness and evilness. The lyrics are also less satanic and more of down to earth stuff. The vocals are quite menacing, they call them subwoofer in the credits to the album and somehow that might be correct. The production of the album also seem quite focused on enhancing the melodies and it is done along with the mix, by well-known Tue Madsen.
It starts with the song called Your Own Best Compainion and it is a song that does not only indicate what the record is all about and also what to expect from the album, but it is also a quite great song. There is no song that can be considered poor on this album, there are some that are a bit less interesting but they can’t be called poor either.There are some tracks that are slightly better than the rest and those are the penultimate song called We, the last song called Alone and the eighth song called Rape which does not only have a provocative title but also is a great and complex song with an important message. The spoken word part that opens this song is also both funny and clever. I think the final four songs really make for a great ending, had the first tracks been close to that calibre it would really have been an amazing album, now it is just good.
The one weakness for the band as I see it is the vocals, though it is quite decent in some parts, it is not brilliant in other parts and it is sometimes a bit annoying and detrimental to the overall feel of the music, which is a bit of a loss for the band. It should be said though, that this is not that big of a thing as it might seem when reading but it is still there and works as a weight down for the band.
I do think this album proves excellently why we/I listen so many times to an album before reviewing it because had I only given it four plays I would have rated it with a two or a three at best, it took at least seven times to warm up to it and really get to feel the greatness of the songs that round off this album, the first ones does seem to be a little less interesting, they are okay but no more. This proves to me again that it is no good to try and judge an album after too few plays, and also is a feather in the hat for those who really make music that can stand a close up view of their music which Illdisposed apparently can.
There is Light (But it’s not for Me) and especially it’s final four songs is a great way to celebrate twenty years as a band, congratulations to that, I think Rape, We and Alone are among the best songs I have heard this year and in a way it feels a bit wrong to give this album a rating of four when these songs are there, but the overall feel of the album is there, close to a five I admit but not close enough. Therefore my verdict is that this album is good, it ends brilliantly, actually it starts decent and goes on in neutral before it really picks up and ends brilliantly.
Twenty years, congratulations Illdisposed, the end of this album shows that it was not twenty years wasted, thank you!
HHHHHHH
