Crusty doom from Washington, D.C. is what Ilsa offers in its sophomore effort titled Tutti Il Colori Del Buio, aptly named after an early 70’s B-film of the same name. As with most crust-death-doom (I truly loathe these long, derivative tags) the music is pure filth and ugliness, but does Ilsa manage to keep the attention span in the face of such disfiguring melody?

What is most fascinating about Ilsa is that the sound quality isn’t total mud; on the contrary, this album is quite well above the board from what I usually hear passing for production in the crust movement these days. The only drawback to the album is that the vocals are very one-dimensional, allowing no real room for innovation or resonance. Now, that said there is some excellent music being played here, though if you’re expecting total and complete serendipity you might be let down. The harsh singing style is not bad; it fits the precise dichotomy of the album’s mood, especially evident in “Primrose Paths” or “Roving Blade”. Sadly, however, it’s just one of a million voices implementing a similar sound to an equally mid-road degree.

Tracks like “Frosthrower” are really indicative of the early Asphyx sound, but don’t let this deter you from enjoying otherwise fine metal music. As I said, the ‘wow factor’ is not necessarily here for anything new or overly stimulating, but for the basic blueprint of this style you can do a lot worse than Ilsa. This is music you can surely have on and get into while engaging in light duty; the feel is such that there is no real harbor between total attentiveness and boredom, and if you’re easily distracted you might lose the album in certain areas. I do like the speedy pick-up in “Blue Moon Haze” that seems to give a kick-start to the track just as it begins to get mundane in itself.
I hasten to really dump on this record because it’s not a bad effort at all by some guys with really strong roots in the music, but it’s all a rehash of something else by another band along the way. In short, what these guys lack in originality they make up for in the fact that the music, while an old hat for some of us, may bring new fans to the table, which is always a plus.

For what these guys are doing the album isn’t bad by any means; some ardent fans of the this music will mostly likely find fault with its being too contrived or unremarkable, while newer, unaware fans might find it to be the album Sabbath could never do. It’s all a matter of personal choice, taste, and exposure to the right bands of the genre. For me, this album is okay, but nothing overly encapsulating.      

TRACK LISTING

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*Comments:

1.  Blood Rituals
2.  120 Days
3.  The Butcher's Castle
4.  Frostthrower
5.  Blue Moon Haze
6.  Primrose Paths
7.  Traphouse
8.  No-Man's Land
9.  Roving Blade

Total playing time:  39:28

Release Date: 2010
Label: Contagion Records

Ilsa - Tutti Il Colori Del Buio

Reviewer: Chris

April 25, 2011