ILLT is the alter ego of Norwegian composer and guitarist Roy Westad. It’s an uncompromising sandbox and a culmination of decades of passion and love for extreme metal as an artform. His debut album «Urhat» features session musicians from Megadeth, Soilwork, Chrome Division and Nile. The album was mixed by Kurt Ballou @ Godcity and mastered by Grammy winning engineer Alan Douches. 

Roy started out as a guitarist before establishing himself as a film composer back in 2008. Since then, he has been involved in countless film and TV projects and received the Norwegian Emmy for Best Original Score in 2014. But he always held extreme metal close to his heart. In some ways, things are now coming full circle. His background as a guitarist helped form his style as a film composer, and his film scoring career has helped in developing the form of ILLT.  

Now he’s ready to unleash his debut «Urhat» (meaning something like «ancient hate» in Norwegian) on the world! With him on the album are some well-known names in metal; Dirk Verbeuren on drums (Megadeth), Speed Strid on vocals (Soilwork), as well as lead guitarists Karl Sanders (Nile) and Mr.Damage from Chrome Division. The album is set for release on Sep 16, 2021 and is an eclectic yet seamless blend of groovy and blackened death/thrash/ doom/rock. Brutal yet melodic, modern yet raw.  

ILLT states: «I have a pretty schizophrenic musical taste, I’m quickly bored, and I hate rules and boundaries. This album was written by pure instinct on my own terms, and the result is a genre-defying and emotional ride through intense riff-based metal». The lyrical themes are centered around anger, hopelessness and contempt for the human race, and deal with the darkest sides of religion, politics and de-evolution. 

The music of “Urhat” is pealing off the rotten layers of the world track by track. Out via Indie Recordings on Sep 16, 2021! 

«Urhat» credits: 

Vocals: Speed Strid 

Guitars & Bass: ILLT 

Drums: Dirk Verbeuren 

Lead Guitars: Karl Sanders, Mr.Damage 
 

Music & Lyrics by ILLT 

Mixed by Kurt Ballou 

Mastered by Alan Douches 

Album photo by Jo Bergersen 

Design and layout by Carl Stjärnlöv 

Drums recorded at Northwood Sound Studios, Hollywood 

Engineered by Adair Daufembach 

Dirk Verbeuren exclusively uses Tama, Meinl, Evans, Roland, Toontrack, JH Audio