• New Music Reviews
• |
• Archives
• |
• News
• |
• Submissions
• |
• About
• |
• 
• |
• 

May 2025

• Laurenne/Louhimo: Falling Through Stars
• Rock Out: Let's Call It Rock N Roll
• The Flower Kings: Love
• Maestrick : Espresso Della Vita: Lunare

March 2025

• W.E.T.: Apex
• Alliance: Before Our Eyes
• Ginevra: Beyond Tomorrow
• Phil X & The Drills:
  Pow! Right In The Kisser
• IQ: Dominion
• Heart Line: Falling Heaven
• Gotthard: Stereo Crush
• Defender: Dying To Live
• Streetlight: Night Vision

February 2025

• Robin McAuley: Soulbound
• Perfect Plan: Heart Of A Lion
• Craig Brooks: Desolation Freeway
• Mantric Momentum: Alienized
• Pattern-Seeking Animals: Friend Of All Creatures
• Crazy Lixx: Thrill Of The Bite
• Ginger Evil: The Way It Burns
• Dream Theater: Parasomnia
• Tyran: Tyran's Oath
• Saber: Lost In Flames

January 2025

• Wildness: Avenger
• The Ferrymen: Iron Will
• Labyrinth: In The Vanishing Echoes Of Goodbye
• Bonfire: Higher Ground
• The Big Deal: Electrified
• Landfall: Wide Open Sky

December 2024

• After Lapse: Pathways
• Illusion Force: Halfana
• Powell-Payne: Voilá

November 2024

• Sunstorm: Restless Fight
• Storace: Crossfire
• Voodoo Circle: Hail To The King
• Lionville: Supernatural
• Starchaser: Into The Great Unkown
• Empires Of Eden: Guardians Of Time
• Lonerider: Down In The Dust
• Seventh Crystal: Entity
• Neal Morse & The Resonance: No Hill For A Climber
• Beardfish: Songs For Beating Hearts
• Impellitteri: War Machine
• Brothers Of Metal: Fimbulvinter

[ More Music Reviews ]

Lake of Tears: Illwill

Heavy Rock/Metal

4.75/5.0

AFM Records
Website Facebook MySpace
by Craig Hartranft,  06.06.2011

Illwill is my first experience with Sweden's Lake of Tears, although they've been around since the early Nineties. It's been a good one: both interesting and entertaining. From the beginning LoT has been called gothic metal with doom and progressive elements, but also an ever evolving band. The gothic thing is nebulous encompassing some many bands and doom suggests a slower forbidding pace. If that's enough generalization, then any listener will find both elements within Illwill, and they are there.

Yet listening to The Hating or Parasites, it sounds like Lake of Tears is taking on some punk persona mixed with heavy rock. The former move briskly, but has a doomish segue. The latter almost smacks of a re-enegized Motorhead. Go figure. But Floating in Darkness sounds like basic heavy rock or metal. It's nearly old school: good pace, very catchy with a nice guitar rip. Then, also, the title cut is heavy rock/metal with humongous riffs. Nice. House of the Setting Sun is both ambiguous and progressive. It's slow, heavy, and steady, but contains elements of goth, doom, and the psychedelic. Out of Control returns to that heavy rock and roll feel, and it's fast, short, and catchy.

Go on listening. Whatever Lake of Tears have gotten themselves into is quite good.

Lake of Tears' Illwill has to be one of the most interesting and unexpected listens in the last six months. It's as much indefinable as it is significantly entertaining. Perhaps may favorable attitude comes from a lack of experience with the band. Whatever. Illwill is cool!

Note: All Amazon advertising in this review first benefits the artist, then Craig Hartranft also receives a residual. Click, and thanks for your support.

Lake of Tears' Illwill has to be one of the most interesting and unexpected listens in the last six months. It's as much indefinable as it is significantly entertaining. Illwill is cool!

Alphabetical Index

Here's a fun fact about Swiss legends, Gotthard: their last 16 releases, excepting their debut album, went to number one in their home country, making them one of Switzerland's most successful acts and ... [ Read More ]