MISERY INDEX "Rituals of Power"

MISERY INDEX

“Rituals of Power”

There are some bands that just embody the sound of an age. The Beach Boys and the carefree early 60’s.  The Sex Pistols and the grimy Britain of the 70’s. And for the absurdist modern dystopia of our current age, a time where we seem to be running as hard as we can to be the worst of everything, we have Misery Index.

There is just something about the brutal, sometimes dissonant and utterly bleak death metal of this band that reeks of a headlong rush to intellectual and environmental collapse. I can’t say that I’m even a huge fan of the band’s style, but the rage and despair of their music elevates them to a very high plane. With “Rituals of Power”, we have a soundtrack to a country run by superficial clowns looking to divide and conquer for short term greed. The times have soaked into these songs with full virulence.

The album starts atypically with the slow and grinding “Universal Untruths”, which screams that this will not be a pleasant or easy listen. Then we move into the more ferocious hammering metal of “Decline and Fall” and “The Choir Invisible”. This is American death metal of the 21st century, so don’t look for fuzzy nostalgia and songs about rotting zombies here.

There is a certain evil catchiness to tunes like “New Salem” and “Hammering the Nails” but not much relief. The guitars on this album sound really harsh and abrasive, making it feel like a cheese grater rubbing up against your brain. The negativity continues with songs like “I Disavow” and “Naysayer”.

The album can also be compared to a stinging slap across the face...something that tells you to snap out of it, snap out of the haze that fogs your brain and maybe do something to keep from drowning. This band and this release are not pleasant, but boy, do they pack a wallop. Come get some…

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MISERY INDEX