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misery-index-the-killings-gods

[colored_box color=”grey”]Rating: 8
Label: Season Of Mist
Website: Link
Author: Kostas Tsotsanis[/colored_box]

Misery Index is Season of Mist’s most ascendant death metal band. They began their music journey in 2003 with the release of ‘Retaliate’ and since then they have become one of the most famous bands in the extreme, technical death metal scene of the United States, in a music genre where it is really difficult to find a band truly innovative and different from another. However, Misery Index, influenced by Death, got a strong hold of the rising underground music of the US and managed to progress into a golden standard of death metal.

When the band releases a record, the fans expect it to be an extreme and aggressive one. Misery Index love to use fast and sharp guitar riffs along with technical solos and technical drumming on the background. They originally mix songs that are considered ideal for on stage performances, songs which will get the crowd paranoid. In ‘The Killing Gods’ the band sounds more technical than ever. Many influences of Death and Autopsy are spotted in the music, along with the low, brutal vocals, which are a characteristic of the USA’s death metal.

The record begins with ‘Urfaust’, an instrumental song with melodic guitars, only to progress into the aggressiveness of ‘The Calling’. This continuation reminds me of record openings like Lamb of God’s ‘Wrath’, where the band opens with a ballad instrumental and then with ‘In Your Words’. Since ‘The Calling’, the pace and the velocity do not get lower; explosive guitar riffs, harsh vocals, dynamic break-downs succeed each other in a mind-blasting result. Each song is significant and unique, but rather homogenous with the band’s previous releases.

‘Gallows Humor’, ‘The Killing Gods’, ‘Conjuring the Cull’ and ‘Colony Collapse’ are the best moments of the records, with vocal lines that urge the fan to sing along. Adam has done an excellent work creating the drums for this record, because of his inspiring, technical drumming; it embraces the music, slowing the pace down or helping with ascending the velocity. They also create pauses in the rhythm section, which fortifies the use of death metal break-downs. The result is so special, which can be easily appreciated by the fans of the specific music scene or metal generally.

‘The Killing Gods’ strongly fills the need for some quality death metal, approaching old-school ideas under a modern prism. The Misery Index fulfills the needs of every fan that needs its death metal stripped out of the –core influence, but still keeping the traits of our decade.

Track List Line Up
01. Urfaust
02. The Calling
03. The Oath
04. Conjuring the Cull
05. The Harrowing
06. The Killing Gods
07. Cross to Bear
08. Gallows Humor
09. The Weakener
10. Sentinels
11. Colony Collapse
12. Heretics 		Jason Netherton – Bass, Vocals
Adam Jarvis – Drums
Mark Kloeppel – Guitar, Vocals
John Voyles – Guitar