10 MISERY INDEX * TRAITORS (Relapse) Until this summer, I didn't even realize Misery Index and Misery Signals were two different bands. You scan screen after screen of Metal news and eventually bands run together, especially two phonetically similar and eminently confusable names like these. But rest assured, Misery Index is not lame machocore from the Midwest; MI's misery refers to socio-economic suffering, not an achy-breaky heart. OK, so they are a bit macho, but that's just American death metal -- especially American death metal from the same city as (and formed by ex-members of) Dying Fetus. Whatever. There's little to dislike about MI's masterful Traitors, including the Baltimore quartet's anarcho-punk politics that infuse the record with an anger that only threatens to descend into goofy chest-beating. If humanist outrage bothers you, go listen to Godsmack. Go on. You've been revoked.
I remember listening to Traitors one sunny morning, and, in a minor display of laziness, lowering the volume slightly to play the then-breaking video of Dallas Mavericks forward Josh Howard ahem refusing to participate in a recitation of the national anthem. Well, it was a bit of serendipity to match the two media -- shit with the aid of a time machine, I'd somehow add the clip to the title track. Maybe Howard and MIndex could get together for a track called "Obama '08 An' All That Shit" track for the forthcoming Judgement Night 2 soundtrack. Just kidding.
But seriously, Traitors has its moments of unoriginality ("Ghosts of Catalonia" cribs briefly from Mastodon's "Crystal Skull"), and though catchy as fuck, riffage does careen into low-risk grindisms often enough to frustrate. Thusly, Misery Index's next project is dynamics; only "Thrown Into The Sun" downshifts into spacious and melodic mid-tempo groove -- to brilliant effect despite the laugher of a title -- which sets up the harrowing finale "Black Sites." 2008 was a very adventurous year for Metal, as prog-leaning bands suddenly seemed not all that dorky next to proliferate viking metal and D&Dcore. So the time is right for Misery Index to inject some color into the black-and-white world of Traitors.
I remember listening to Traitors one sunny morning, and, in a minor display of laziness, lowering the volume slightly to play the then-breaking video of Dallas Mavericks forward Josh Howard ahem refusing to participate in a recitation of the national anthem. Well, it was a bit of serendipity to match the two media -- shit with the aid of a time machine, I'd somehow add the clip to the title track. Maybe Howard and MIndex could get together for a track called "Obama '08 An' All That Shit" track for the forthcoming Judgement Night 2 soundtrack. Just kidding.
But seriously, Traitors has its moments of unoriginality ("Ghosts of Catalonia" cribs briefly from Mastodon's "Crystal Skull"), and though catchy as fuck, riffage does careen into low-risk grindisms often enough to frustrate. Thusly, Misery Index's next project is dynamics; only "Thrown Into The Sun" downshifts into spacious and melodic mid-tempo groove -- to brilliant effect despite the laugher of a title -- which sets up the harrowing finale "Black Sites." 2008 was a very adventurous year for Metal, as prog-leaning bands suddenly seemed not all that dorky next to proliferate viking metal and D&Dcore. So the time is right for Misery Index to inject some color into the black-and-white world of Traitors.
1 comment:
If you're mad about the shortcomings of "Traitors", I have three words for you:
Old Misery Index.
It's everything you said was missing from this record. The first few Misery Index releases weren't as good as Dying Fetus, but they were damn close.
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