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Lake of Tears are a band that have never interested me, and this is the first full-length I've heard from these guys, so I have no basis for comparison with their output prior to Illwill. Lake of Tears have various genres pegged to them, none of which really describe their sound, and the best I could describe their sound on Illwill is straight up heavy metal with a gothic slant and a touch of doom. They've been coined progressive but I don't hear that in their sound, although they do give off the impression of a musical chimera, with the sound of Illwill taking on a myriad of style.

I find quite admirable, and I'm sure true fans of the band will be pleased with, the sheer variety served up on Illwill. We have traditional metal crunchers such as "Parasite" and "Floating in Darkness", more laidback almost doom, gothic cuts such as "House of the Setting Sun" and the title track, and then some quality headbangers in "The Hating" and the superb album closer "Midnight Madness" which is hands down the best song on the album; if the whole of Illwill had sounded like this we would have been talking first-rate.

What really surprised me is that a lot of the riff work has a nice black metal vibe to it, helped by the guitar tone, you can hear this particularly well in the aforementioned final track. This album is certainly not without its merit, but as far as my personal tastes go this won't be getting much play time, with the exception of the more furious tracks. Fans of the band should hopefully eat this up as Lake of Tears have certainly put out a good album. Worth a look.