ill Offers More Of The Same

Since 2005 ill from Atlanta have been working on their music. In 2007 they already released a first album and last year its successor was released in the US, Gotten Gains. Now this record has been released in Europe as well. Apparently they find it the right time to try to make it here. From the first song on it's clear the threesome like it rough. Heavy riffs and loud drums pound the listener. It's a combination of grunge and stonerrock. Music that comes to mind is Soundgarden, Queens of the Stone Age and Stone Temple Pilots. Heavy stuff and not a bad starting position for something good.

ill - Gotten Gains (Ronald Says 5 out of 10)

But singer Ryan Waters doesn't have the vocal reach of a Chris Cornell, even though he does sing convincingly. He's not a singer with a notable singing voice though. The band is pretty tight, the songs are decent and it all sounds clean. But like the vocals, the band doesn't show anything extraordinary. They definitely can't come close the level of the mentioned big names. The songs are too simple for that and don't stick out enough. The record and the band are both more of the same. In the US there's plenty of these kind of bands and we already met a lot of those in the nineties. Over here you can find a lot of examples too and there are numerous bands who are a lot better than that.

Still a song like 'There Are Worse Things Than Being Alone' sounds fine. It has a catchy riff and keeps momentum. But it's all quite straightforward. Another example is 'Castration', which sounds alright, but it misses a lot of subtlety. And it's not really original either of course. Gotten Gains is one of those albums that just won't stick. When you play it, it sounds okay. You nod your head to the heavy grooves, but when the record has finished, you already have forgotten about it. The band probably won't leave a lasting impression over here.

This review has been published on ROAR E-Zine in Dutch over here.

Listen to 'Gotten Gains' on Spotify.

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