Illdisposed – Sense The Darkness

One year after ‘There is Light (But It’s Not for Me)’ which was released in April 2011, Illdisposed return with their eleventh full length album called ‘Sense The Darkness’. The band comes from Aarhus, Denmark and was formed in the early 90’s by vocalist Bo ‘Subwoofer’ Summer. ‘Sense The Darkness’ has entered the official chart in Denmark at position No. 78, it was recorded at Antfarm Studio in Aabyhøj, Denmark and was produced and mixed by Tue Madsen who has also worked with bands like Moonspell, The Haunted and Mnemic. Mircea Gabriel Eftemie (Mnemic) is responsible for the obscure cover artwork.

‘Sense The Darkness’ doesn’t follow the sound of their previous album that had electronic elements, it can be described as raw groovy death metal and at times reminded me of bands like As I Lay Dying or Heaven Shall Burn. Title track ‘Sense The Darkness’ opens with great riffs, melodies, fast groovy drumming and gives you a taste of what is coming up. I didn’t expect to be impressed by the music but the final result is surprisingly well-played though the music has nothing that could make me worship it. I tend to believe that this type of music or genre is saturated and it has to be something really good and extraordinary to grab my attention. Tue Madsen did a fantastic job with the sound of the album, knowing well how Illdisposed wanted to sound, as they have collaborated again in the past. Bo ‘Subwoofer’ Summer roars with anger while Jakob ‘Batten’ Hansen and Ken Holst laying down some impressive riffs and melodic guitar solos throughout the album.

Jonas “Kloge” Mikkelsen’s contribution on the album is also his last one cause by the time I write these lines he has been replaced by Kussen (which in Danish means ‘The Cunt’), after leaving the band because he couldn’t find the time to keep up with the activities of Illdisposed anymore, as the band stated. Thomas “Muskelbux” Jensen’s performance is also remarkable, who played some pretty good stuff on the drums with kick-ass sound. The main problem of ‘Sense The Darkness’ is that many songs of the album are identical to each other, while ‘I Am Possessed’ and ‘She‘s Undressed’ are the most interesting songs, at least for my taste. Other good songs are ‘Eyes Popping Out’, ‘Too Blind To See’ and last track of the album ‘We Do This Alone’. The digipak edition has two bonus tracks called ‘War’ and ‘Desire’.

I may not be the biggest fan of their new album or Illdisposed in general, but they have been in the music industry for more than two decades and even though they have never been a top name in the metal scene, they have released a good album once more that may not be a masterpiece but fits the band’s standards and true fans of the genre and Illdisposed will embrace it at once.