Wow.
Not only have Misery Index rebounded from the slightly disappointing Discordia and returned to the full on brilliance of Retaliate, they have responded to the gauntlet thrown down by the recent Willowtip triple headed assault of Kill the Client, Phobia and Maruta as far as American grindcore in 2008 is concerned.
While one could argue Misery Index, with their Dying Fetus backbone (Jason Netherton and Sparky Boyles) , could be construed as more death metal than Kill The Client, Phobia or Maruta, the fact remains Misery Index are a grindcore band fueled by political and social themes, (vehemently so on Traitors), and their Kurt Ballou produced, power chord driven, tooth gnashing diatribes and barks certainly carry the taint of Napalm Death, Terrorizer and such.
Backed by some of the most scathing anti-government, anti-religion and anti political lyrics I’ve read (complete with inlay card littered with various relevant quotes from the likes of Thomas Paine, Nietzsche and such), Traitors amounts to an insurgent, musical coup d’etat against the current state of affair in the US. Urgent and violent but with a calculated sense of purpose, Traitors delivers 11 anthems of rebellion and tangible disgust with the current state of things. After a learning period for Discordia, not so new members Mark Kloeppel (Cast the Stone, Criminal Element) and Adam Jarvis (Criminal Element) appear to have settled into the bands mantra both musically and stylistically, and it shows with a top notch barrage of blast beats and menacing grooves.
From the opening intro “We Never Come in Peace” (with the rousing, truthful shout of “In the True Eyes of God, we will Never be Forgiven!”), through the blistering “Theocracy”, controlled vitriol of “Partisans of Grief” (featuring The Red Chord’s Guy Kozowyk), furious title track, blood pumping, “Occupation”, punchy standout “The Arbiter”, “Ruling Class Cancelled” (featuring Tomas Lindberg) to menacing, mid paced “Thrown Into the Sun”, Traitors attacks with the relentless tenacity and quick strike ferocity of an African Honey Badger. And with that grindcore’s savagery, comes the added depth, pacing and longer songs of death metal, making for a complete extreme metal experience that will leave you battered, bruised and ready to rise against all authority.
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Damn you Erik and your right-on-the mark reviews!!!! Seriously though, this album truly rips!!! Way better than I was expecting after Discordia. That album was really good but not like this.
on Nov 6th, 2008 at 17:41Love this band. Love this album – killer shit indeed.
Not sure if you knew Eric, but Cast the Stone was a local to our area – I must’ve seen ’em play at least 10 times, and they put on one of the best live shows I’ve ever seen. Not sure if they’re still together, but they ended up moving from Columbia to St. Louis. I do know that one of the other guys from the band is now in a black/death band called Legend, who also put on a killer show.
on Nov 6th, 2008 at 17:43That was an awesome review Erik, i’m so glad to hear that Misery Index have come back with something top notch, i’ll be purchasing ASAP
on Nov 6th, 2008 at 19:13Yeeh Larry -i knew Cast the Stone-I reviewed the cd at digital. the bassist derek (now in Unmerciful) is a super nice guy
on Nov 6th, 2008 at 19:25Erik, damn – how do you not list All Will Fall after Adam’s name? GREAT, GREAT band. If you haven’t heard them, you will.
Good review, as always. :)
on Nov 6th, 2008 at 21:58Yeah, all three of the dudes from CtS were cool as fuck. The drummer, Jesse, is the one in Legend now – you should check them out, I think you’d dig it.
on Nov 7th, 2008 at 06:02TC – I was thinking the same thing – All Will Fall is a great band. Yet another I discovered through heavycore.org.
on Nov 8th, 2008 at 14:40Fucking hell. This is vicious.
on Nov 14th, 2008 at 15:39THEY PUT THE CON BACK IN CONGRESS!!!HOTDAMN!!!
on Mar 31st, 2009 at 03:19