Misery Index: Rituals of Power (2019)

Somehow, without me really paying attention, I have accumulated a number of Misery Index albums.  I just sort of buy them when they come out without even a second thought.  And I have been doing this for more than ten years now.  I must really like them or something.

Of course I like Misery Index.  Who the hell wouldn't?  The band hits that sweet spot between death metal and grindcore where it is just pure fucking brutality.  They never release a bad album and they keep to a fairly simple formula: make as much noise as possible.  Their last album, The Killing Gods was quite possibly their best, which is an impressive feat given how long the band has been active and how great albums like Traitors and Heirs to Thievery were.  And so, obviously I was going to grab their newest album.

This one seems to have taken a tiny step backwards.  It is still a fucking monster of an album, but something just seems a little bit off about it.  It was kind of evident from the beginning.  Opening track "Universal Untruths" just is not the kind of rampaging track that should be opening a Misery Index album.  It feels like it is supposed to be building to something, like the entire track is supposed to be leading into something absolutely enormous, and then it just does not get there.  Well, technically it builds into "Decline and Fall", the next track, but it definitely does not stand on its own.  From there though, the band basically returns to the sound that has made them one of the most punishing bands in metal today.  Songs like "New Salem" and "The Choir Invisible" are up there with some of the best songs the band has ever done.  Unfortunately, in general the band just does not reach the heights that they have previously hit.

This is still a damn fine album though the band seems to be a little less intense this time around.  It would have been very difficult to top The Killing Gods even if the band was on top of their game.  Unfortunately they just do not quite deliver it all here. 

Favorite New Bands of the 2000's: Honorable Mentions

When I was forming the list of bands that formed in the 2000's, I had several other bands in mind. Eventually, I decided to shorten the list to ten bands. But that left off a lot of other deserving bands that I really enjoy. So, I put together an honorable mentions list.

In no particular order:

QUINTA ESSENTIAQuinta Essentia is a band that formed in Alabama of all places. The band combine black, death, and thrash metal into an extremely powerful and malevolent sound. It is one hell of a mix. The lyrical themes of the band deal mainly with the occult and magic. The dark themes and darker music combine into one hell of an evil sounding band. But, the musicianship is also very good. Their songs are all long, but they succeed in keeping the attention of the listener due to the intricate riffs and melodies. Quinta Essentia have been around since 2004 and have only two albums to their credit, but if they continue down the same path as their latest album, they will very quickly make a big name for themselves.

BLASPHERIANBlaspherian was briefly covered in my post on Texas black and death metal bands. Their sound is extremely raw and with some death/doom metal influences. Essentially, they sound like a combination of Immolation and Incantation. It's extremely dirty sounding and ugly. The band is focused on anti-Christian themes and evil. It's one hell of a listening experience with jagged riffs, pounding drums, and deep death growls.

VICTIMIZERVictimizer is a Danish speed/thrash metal band with some minor punk influences. The band essentially sounds like early Teutonic thrash metal bands like Destruction, Kreator, and Sodom. They sound like they would have been very much at home in the early to mid 1980's. They have a gift for killer riffs and memorable songs. They are melodic, but at the same time, very aggressive and primal. Victimizer is unfortunately on hold at the moment. Hopefully they will get back to playing thrash the way it should be played in the near future.

BLOOD TSUNAMIBlood Tsunami is a Norwegian thrash metal band. Drummer Faust is a well-known drummer in several black metal bands, such as Emperor and Aborym. Blood Tsunami plays thrash metal, as the name of their album suggests, in the vein of the German thrash metal bands mentioned in the Victimizer information. The riffs are fast and razor sharp. The vocals are delivered in a manic sneer and the songs are very memorable. Blood Tsunami is not a retro thrash metal band, much like Victimizer above, they just play thrash the way they want to play it. And the results are very impressive indeed.

TRIVIUMShut up, I kind of like Trivium. Yes, they started out as a metalcore band. Yes, they shamelessly ripped off Metallica on their third album. However, the band can write some damn infectious songs. Even if you hate the band, you have to admit that they are damn good musicians as well. This is a very talented band that unfortunately started out looking for money, and probably still is to a certain extent. So now, everything they do is met with scorn and derision. Get over it and give the band another chance.

THE ABSENCEThis band is melodic death metal in the true sense of the term. The band is not poppy like the forefathers of the genre In Flames. They are much closer in sound to Amon Amarth, another death metal band that happens to be very melodic. This is one of the better American bands to develop over the last decade. I list them as an honorable mention only because I have not been able to find more than one of their albums. It's a great album though and if the rest of their stuff sounds like it, this is one hell of a band.

LANDMINE MARATHONArizona's Landmine Marathon are a young band that borrows heavily from a sound that is more than 20 years old. The band sound like an early grind band such as England's Carcass, Bolt Thrower, or Napalm Death. The singer is one of the most aggressively powerful singers to come out in awhile, and she's female. This is a blessing and a curse of course, but the fact that she is very good at what she does means that once people look past that aspect and look at the music, they will take off.

REVOCATIONI just found out about this band last year. The band is part of the thrash revival scene, but they play technical thrash. It's quite a welcome change of pace. This has always been a bit of an underappreciated style. Groups like Anacrusis and Heathen had a hand in the formation of it. Revocation is extremely talented musically with a gift for writing catchy songs and riffs. It's technical, but not so much that it's unlistenable. This band could be huge.

NOCTURNAL FEARNocturnal Fear is a Michigan-based thrash metal band. They are a little bit of a throwback band, but they don't try to copy the Bay Area scene of the 1980's like so many other bands out there starved for attention. Nocturnal Fear's thrash roots lie across the Atlantic Ocean in Germany. Sounding like a cross between the big three bands of German thrash, Nocturnal Fear is punishing and intense. Their album covers even call to mind Sodom as they often feature graphic depictions of warfare.

MISERY INDEXBaltimore's death/grind masters formed in 2001 but have already released four full-length albums, three EPs, five splits, and even a DVD. In other words, this band is quite prolific in the studio. Misery Index formed when Jason Netherton left Dying Fetus and brought many of his musical influences in. The band is fast and brutally heavy and are one of the few grind-influenced bands I listen to.

Initial Impressions: Misery Index: Heirs to Thievery

From the slower-paced pagan black metal of Poccolus to the hyperfast death/grind of Misery Index. I'm not a fan of grindcore in its pure form. The genre is more of a very fast, distorted harcore and not really metal. However, at some point in the late 1980's, grindcore bands began incorporating thrash and death metal influences. Napalm Death, Carcass, and Bolt Thrower were three of these bands, and they were wildly influential on a developing niche in grind. Here we have one of the best such bands currently going, Baltimore's Misery Index.

These songs are all very short and very fast shards of brutality. That band is very political, as one can probably guess based on their name, and features ex-members of the pioneering slam band Dying Fetus. Their sound is similar to Dying Fetus, without falling into the slam side of things.

Misery Index is focused on brutality, there is very little room for slowing things down and providing melody. Although there is the occasional melodic guitar solo, such solos are usually short and over in the blink of an eye. Nevertheless, the band is extremely competent at their craft and very good songwriters. Many of these songs will stick with the listener long after the album is over.

As mentioned, this band is political, and they are angry as hell about the state of the world and they're going to force that issue. This is angry music and the lyrics reflect that anger. The riffs are razor-sharp and accompanied by thunderous drumming and Sparky Voyles's authoritative shouted vocals.

I started listening to this band a year or so ago and am very impressed with them. As mentioned, I don't listen to a lot of grindcore, but I do make an exception for well-crafted death/grind. Misery Index is clearly at the top of that genre at this point. This album further proves that fact.