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ILLDISPOSED
In Chambers Of Sonic Disgust
Massacre Records

Crisis!
Struggle!
And clearly lots of disgust!

From Aarhus to the middle of your street, well-established Danish death dealers ILLDISPOSED are known for both their aggressive aural madness and an impressive 15-album catalogue that goes one step beyond. Formed in 1991, the quintet first got their humble start with a demo track titled "Reversed" which had found its way onto a death metal indie compilation titled Fuck You, We're From Denmark before they transcended beyond fjords with their debut studio album Four Depressive Seasons. Since then, they've been an active fixture on the global death metal scene and given their longevity as well, one would question whether they've preceded the Gothenburg melodic death metal scene by about a few years earlier. With their 15th studio album titled In Chambers Of Sonic Disgust, ILLDISPOSED are taking many of their latter-day contemporaries to church after a five-year gap.

It is definitely not normal to see a gap like this between their releases, but several events slowed down the process - especially the most obvious one being COVID-19 which should emit a Billie Eilish-style "DUH!" from many of us. The second event was far more personal when guitarist Rasmus Henriksen - who played on the band's Reveal Your Soul For The Dead - was diagnosed with brain cancer and has since left the band to focus 100% on the treatment, leaving the band to enlist former guitarist Ken Holst - who first played on ILLDISPOSED's 2012 album Sense The Darkness - to help record their latest album. And what you're hearing throughout In Chambers is indeed the sounds of how years of crisis and struggle have been well transcribed to music.

Opening numbers "Spitting Your Pain" and "I Walk Among The Living" are the solid embodiment of ILLDISPOSED's hard and heavy delivery. Frontman Bo Summer may be the sole original member of the acclaimed group but he's reigned in some top end talent for this album - Jakob Batten (guitar), Onkel K. Jensen (bass), Rasmus Schmidt (drums) and the aforementioned Ken Holst (guitar) - to truly bring in the sonic energy. And there's even a guest collaboration courtesy of Sandie The Lillith (DEFACING GOD) who appears on two songs: B>"Lay Low" and "I Suffer". Yet, as powerful-sounding as In Chambers is, its same sound does bear some similar nods towards the likes of its Scandinavian peers, particularly ARCH ENEMY and IN FLAMES. Not intentionally by design, but the punk/thrash onslaught of "And Of My Hate" harkens back towards the raw yet thrashy sounds of Whoracle era of IN FLAMES with even some CALLENISH CIRCLE and KATAKLYSM thrown in for good measure in parts. "Flying Free" and "Start Living Again" also bear a few hallmarks of the late 90's Gothenburg sound in terms of the well-layered riffs but otherwise boasts a more individual-sounding improvised rhythmic groove. Furthermore, to its credit, the mid-break in "Start Living Again" also provides more of a unique twist in the pattern of the song. And the same could be said for "All Electric" which focuses more on groove than on velocity thanks to its lush background keyboards and is easily the most measured number on the whole album, with Rasmus Schmidt's powerful blast beats being the driving rhythm throughout the song.

Despite enduring its fair share of hardships and struggles in recording their first batch of new material in nearly 5 years in the face of a global pandemic and a colleague's sudden health diagnosis, ILLDISPOSED still persevered with one of their most personal and darkest-sounding albums with In Chambers Of Sonic Disgust. And if the songs often need to remain the same to keep from going insane from what they've set free from inside, the catharsis is making ILLDISPOSED a healthier band because of it - and it does beat the alternative of keeping the proverbial chambers locked down.

4.5 Out Of 5.0

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