I don't really know why in my silly mind of mine there are times that I mix up LAKE OF TEARS with TEARS FOR FEARS (yeah the band with the old hit "Shout"). Might be the similar rhyme of the band names or the "brainwash" MTV did to me during the mid 80s where the latter group was getting loads of attention.  Who knows? My first contact with LAKE OF TEARS though, was almost fifteen years later when our webmaster, Yiannis, gave me the album "A Crimson Cosmos" to listen to.  And here we are again a decade later, with the Swedes releasing another album, their third after their "second era" named "Illwill".  This might be one of the very few times which "judging" a book (or record) by its (beautiful and dark) cover be exactly spot on!

Forget (almost) what you know about LAKE OF TEARS. Really, just do this favor to yourself. Empty your mind from their past moments of glory with albums like "A Crimson Cosmos" or "The Neonai", because you are in for a "shock".  Even with the first couple of songs the direction of "Illwill" is more than obvious; dark & heavy, sometimes bitter, sometimes angry, raw but very well structured. What you'll find missing in this album are the "slow" -almost- psychedelic sounds of their first era, before the split. "Illwill" is a much more guitar driven album. Just listen to "The Hating"; the initial riff borderlines to thrash while the guitar work during the "first part" chorus is pure headbanging material!  And after the first two minutes, the song slows down and switches to a dark melody till the end, thus starting the "second part". Also another example of the excellent guitar work is "Midnight Madness" which also acts like a showcase for the "underrated" but excellent drumming of the whole album. Totally a gig song, close to be "characterized" as black metal-ish and probably the heaviest song LAKE OF TEARS ever wrote!

But the band has a tremendous way of balancing things out. Songs like "House Of The Setting Sun" and "Behind The Green Door" mellow down the tone, try to open you up, make you vulnerable to "Illwil"'s music; lowering your defenses, so you are unsuspected of the aural "blows" to come.  Pure gothic sounds, lyrics that tear your soul apart and melodies that drag those feelings from the inner parts of you.  This is the reason of me telling you to forget (almost) what you know about" the band. LAKE OF TEARS can't just shake off their ability to write amazing songs that relay on feelings and melody and they do no different with "Illwill".

If I didn't know better I would, hastily, say that this album is probably their "best of". "Illwill" got absolutely no weak song! No filler! You just don't skip any song! You have no idea how hard is ,nowadays, to listen to an album for about 40 minutes and enjoy every last minute of it. Surely this is THE surprise of 2011 so far and a fucking good album! LAKE OF TEARS are back and BETTER than ever!