Despised Icon - The Ills of Modern Man

[circus_brimstone]

Despised Icon – The Ills of Modern Man
Century Media Records – CD77642-2 – May 22, 2007
By Jason Jordan



Deathcore aficionados need to hear Despised Icon. With each release, the Canadians attempt to prove they’re the best in the business, even if The Ills of Modern Man isn’t an improvement over their first Century Media installment The Healing Process. It’s not a letdown either, though.

Like many of their death-oriented countrymen, DI are consistently out for blood as their full-lengths impress in many facets. It’s apparent, however, that The Ills of Modern Man lacks personality when compared to another powerful entry by a similar band – All Shall Perish’s The Price of Existence. Nonetheless, they get a lot more right than wrong here. The hardcore characteristics are still out in full force, as are the death metal attributes, and they once again utilize a copious amount of pig-like vocals and gang shouts in addition to regular growls. Canada appears to have the most talented musicians per capita – especially in regards to any and all forms of death metal – and the musicianship is nothing short of astounding, which literally goes with the territory. Most, if not all, of the songs adhere to the standard formula as far as structure is concerned – what with all the stopping and starting – so one might as well headbang to ‘In the Arms of Perdition’ as ‘A Fractured Hand.’ In different words, because the songs have the same properties, there aren’t any tracks that stand head and shoulders above the rest. ‘Fainted Blue Ornaments’ comes close, though, due to the tension therein.

Thus, The Ills of Modern Man is most effective when listened to in its entirety – not just one or two individual tracks. At 40 minutes, Ills is longer than The Healing Process, too, so be prepared for even more lacerating material this time around. As expected, the latest from Despised Icon is a good, if predictable, full-length from a bankable act.

Official Despised Icon Website
Official Century Media Website

[LivingCadaver]

this was a good listen, not really my kind of stuff but I liked it better than the Healing process. This one is more hardcore oriented than metalcore like the previous one with sing alongs and has a bigger hardcore feel than the previous record. Most songs on this had hardcore structure with slower heavier part and straight forward parts, typical hardcore breakdown (not metalcore breakdown).

I'd say they are in a constant evolution:

-Consumed by your poison had a big grind feel
-the Healing Process had this metalcore vibe
-the Ills of modern man seam to go back to the roots of hardcore within this metal crazyness

What style genre of music will they mix with death metal on the next one? Only god knows!

[chris-o-fer]

I think this album is sick as hell. Excellent release all around.

[ConvergeNerd]

Pretty lackluster. I loved the last two, particularly Consumed by Your Poison. While it does go back to the heavier roots, the unnecessary breakdowns and piggy squeels are still there. Breakdowns are used to connect pieces of a song. Cramming four or five of them into a song is nonsensical. Not even the most metalcore of metalcore bands do that. A little formulaic too; some sections were very predictable. It's a good listen in some aspects, I'm really diggin' "A Fractured Hand" and the opening track as well. All that aside, I expected better. Not a disappointment, but certainly a step down.

6/10