Ilsa, named after the exploitation movies from the 70s first released this nasty album on vinyl with Contagion Releasing who are based in Seattle and recently released it on CD on their own Odium Generis Humani label but good luck finding a copy, they are one hell of an obscure act and this CD is not an easy one to track down. ‘Tutti il Colori del Buio’ is the band’s second album, and it stands for ‘All the Colors of the Dark’. The band’s début which seems to be as equally hard to find was ‘The Maggots Are Hungry’ released in 2009. There should be a warning sticker on this album, it is not for the feeble or anyone with a weak heart condition and if you are easily offended, stay clear of this band. This is a nihilistic sludge, crust, doom attack that makes Eyehategod sound like Metallica, well, not really but you get my point. The relentless barrage this band creates has no variety nor does it have any tangible infectious quality but it hits you like a sledge-hammer to the skull. They are possibly even too brutal for some people, even other crust/noise freaks so you have been warned.
Doing a track-by-track breakdown of this album is pointless, there is no variance. All the tracks follow the same disgusting, disturbing pattern of nasty, raw guitar riffs and angry, monotonous, tortured vocals. If you were to put Celtic Frost, Burning Witch, Eyehategod, Entombed, Blood Duster, Asphyx, Electric Wizard, Discharge, Winter and Goatsnake into a blender you might get close to the sound of Ilsa but even then, this is a band that has to be heard to be appreciated. All the guitar riffs are derivative and familiar but cranked to an almost unlistenable level of sonic torture. They have odd bursts of traditional metal chugging as in ‘Blood Rituals’ and ‘The Butcher’s Castle’ but for the most part it is a no-holds barred onslaught of raw, primal emotion that suggests this band has anger-management issues. For sheer brutality, you won’t find anything much to beat ‘Tutti il Colori del Buio’ but I do feel the album could have done with more monolithic doom break-downs just for the sake of variety. The sound of the band is truly frightening at first but by the time you get halfway through this album, its impact is weakened by the repetition of it all.
The production here is something else again, it is so huge, raw and incredible loud that it literally knocks you on your ass at first. The style of band is unique enough as they have a mix of influences and they are all blended into this mish-mash of death, doom, hardcore, sludge but the songs themselves are fairly generic of many other bands. The way they deliver the songs though is nothing short of pulverizing. It was also released as a six-panel digipak by Dark Descent Records on April 7, 2011 but I have yet to see that version but after hearing this, I am going to hunt that down. I need this and you will too, just go to their Myspace page and check out some sample tracks, I guarantee you will be blown away…….8.5/10
Ilsa @ MySpace
Contagion Releasing
doommantia 
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