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Illdisposed

To Those Who Walk Behind Us

Written by: PP on 11/09/2009 17:16:44

What I remember from seeing Illdisposed live many years ago without prior knowledge to the band was the thought "oh my, those vocals are absolutely atrocious". As in, atrociously bad. It doesn't sound like anything has changed during the years judging by "Blood On Your Parade", the first track on their new album "To Those Who Walk Behind Us". I realize I'm going to get a lot of hate for saying that, but honestly, give the vocals a critical listen, fucking hell. These guys are supposed to be the premiere death metal band in Denmark but I can think of a handful of bands from the top of my head that wipe the floor with these guys. Okay maybe I can't, but that just says something about the sorry state of Danish death metal, especially when put into contrast with our neighbours Sweden.

But what's interesting about "To Those Who Walk Behind Us" is that it actually contains some of the catchiest death metal instrumentation I've come across. There's a shitload of rock 'n' roll inspired groove in every song ("Blood On Your Parade" even has a Every Time I Die / Maylene vibe to the intro guitars), and the sound overall is characterized by a vibrant lead guitar melody that drives the songs forward. Despite this being a death metal album, you could call it rather accessible in comparison to their peers because of that. The solos are also top notch, acting as a cherry on top of the otherwise well designed pie of interesting guitar riffs found in every song. But even though all the instrumentation is perfectly in order, the terrible guttural growls drag the record down several grades, even if they belong to the trademark Illdisposed sound. With a different vocalist, these guys could easily sell triple, or maybe even quadruple amount of records compared to what they sell now. As it stands now, the listening experience is largely ruined, and therefore it's impossible to give this record a better grade than

Download: If All The World, Blood On Your Parade
For the fans of: Hatesphere, Disbelief, Debauchery, Panzerchrist
Listen: Myspace

Release date 28.08.2009
Massacre Records