Ilsa : 'Corpse Fortress"

I reviewed this for CVLT NATION and the orignal review I wrote had been sitting here as draft so here it is. This D.C  band is refusing to hold back on  on their debut for Relapse Records. The band's 5th full length finds them continuing to hammer skulls in with the sheer density of their blown out sludge. Dirty and squealing with feedback. The pace picks up to more of a chugged rumble with"No Funeral" The vocals are phrased in a way that that give the coarse scathing shouts almost more of  sung feel. The lyrics cut through better with this delivery. Then they shift back into more of a low end pounding that owes more to doom when it comes to the ominous rumble of "Cosmos Antinomos" as it progresses the momentum continues to build. The flatulent bass can be heard in the din at times, but it generally hits you as one frequency.

The vocals take on an angrier hard core howl to aptly serve "Prosecutor" At times an under current of double bass flows through the bridges coming out of the verses to create a more death metal tone. "Old Maid" is drive by more of a punk energy.  There is something about the verse riffs to "Long Lost Friend" that remind me of old Slayer. It's pretty dense only broken up by a well placed guitar solo. The thick slabs of fuzzed distortion keep coming after you on "Rukenfigur". The vocals continued to shout out in a rough bark with punk intention behind it. When the double bass comes in at the three minute mark it's highly effective and this song proves the band has matured as song writers despite being moderately straight ahead.

They back down into more dismal and miserable doom with the sluggish chords of  "Polly Vaughn". The vocals sound more like nasty rantings. The album closes with "Drums of the Dark Gods" kinda drones with minimal drumming and is the only song that drags , but the other songs on this album compensate for it. I know it has hung tough in my iPod since I got it and has earned multiple listens I think it is a huge step forward for the band so I'll give this a 9.5 .