Album Review: ILS – Curse

ILS scream out of Portland and are a four piece disaster chic band which consist of Tom Glose (Black Elk) on vocals, Nate Abner (The Days, The Nights) on guitar, Tim Steiner (Passerby) on drums and Adam Pike (White Orange) on bass.

Bringing a sense of doom with every beat, they take what is essentially hardcore and add some zest, in the form of chaotic riffs, manic drum beats, crazy vocal gymnastics and a whole load of attitude.

Opening track ‘Bad Parts’ which has been released prior to the album coming out on 3rd July, is a pure collision of heavy musical intent and aggressive vocals that set out an intent for the domination of your ear drums from the off, beyond this, you do get some semblance of order within its onslaught.

Having proved that being masters of torture filled rhythmic leanings, they also hit you with ‘Curse’ the title track, which kicks off with a very familiar rap/spoken word entrance, which dragged me back to when Crazy Town were a thing, but the comparison ends there, this track has all that is ILS wrapped up within its just over 3 mins length.

‘White Meat’ continues with a similar distain for melody. However, this track does seem to display a feel for the more off-kilter riffs. Swift and to the point, although there is time for a brief breakdown and rebuild that culminates in an intense outro dominated by a chilling scream.

If in summing up this album as a whole could be condensed into just one word, “Breath” could be as close as you might come, as in the breath of life to which it so wants to take and squeeze every ounce of being out of, to create music that hits the soul. 

Due out on July 3rd, to see all things ILS check out their FACEBOOK Page