Ill Omen “s/t” 7”

9.7.2009

Ill Omen - s/t This self-titled 7" is the first proper release from one of Finland's latest and fastest moving metallic hardcore bands, Ill Omen—released by both Poolside Records and the band's own KTL Records. Ill Omen is fronted by Markus Veijalainen, the man behind the great blog Killing the Legacy, and an excellent resource for all things related to the contemporary Finnish hardcore scene, which I've been an avid admirer of for many years now. While the band only formed about a year ago, they quickly released a demo and were in the studio working on this 7" not long afterwards. I have to say, though, that this new material shows an incredible improvement for the band across the board: Stronger songwriting, tighter performances, a better recording and mix... everything. As with many bands of this nature (and this is never a complaint), don't expect any boundary pushing or lofty creative goals: This is straightforward, in your face metallic hardcore loaded with badass chugging grooves and traditionally-based chord progressions—tossing in quick melodic runs and ripping little lead burst here and there for good measure. They blaze through the whole fuckin' EP in just over eight minutes, and that's that. There's a killer sense of energy to the impact of the delivery that really leaves you hungry for more, but if the band keeps up their current pace, something tells me the wait won't be too long...