ILSA ‎– Repression / VINYL LP

Ilsa often falls into the sludge metal camp, and while those doomy elements are certainly apparent in their timing and songwriting, when it comes down to it, they’re simply one of the best death metal bands out there. The band’s new EP, Repression, leans into that signature thumping rumble. While their approach may be muddled by their allegiance to punk rock — in tone, tenor, and lethal potential — Preyer might as well have come out of Stockholm in the mid-1990s as the suburbs of D.C. in 2020. That, the band’s queer, anti-racist, and anti-fascist politics are as front and center as Peter’s tattoos, though the finer points of their lyrics are often obscured behind his guttural roar and the attack of the band’s three guitarists.