Discordia

I had previously heard of Misery Index through many zines, etc. ... But I had never bothered checking them out. Until I had a sudden Grind craving. I finally did check them out by picking up their CD at a local record store, and I was not disappointed by what I heard about them.

Misery Index could easily be described as Death/Grind's speed freaks. They just never ever let up (except for their title track "Discordia", which is a much slower paced song).

The guitars are quite exceptional for a Death/Grind band. Normally, you would expect them à la Circle Of Dead Children, however they are aggressive, quick and witty and relatively technical. They do incorporate some melody in about two songs and there are a couple solos on this record ("Sensory Deprivation" quickly comes to mind). The Bass is audible, but you have to listen carefully to hear it. Once again extreme metal disappoints over and over, because we can never hear the fucking bass. The vocals are good, from Dying Fetus-esque growls (somewhat similar to John Gallagher's vocals, medium growls) and screams that sound hardcore-ish, but not too much. The drums are extremely fast-paced and the drummer never lets up. Almost 55% of this record is blastbeats and the rest is either thrashy or punk beats. They are quite appropriate for this kind of music.

In all I'd recommend this record to anyone who wants to cross-over into the Grindcore scene or who just wants to have their brains completely annihilated in 30minutes.

Highlight tracks: Unmarked Graves, Conquistadores, Breathing Pestilence, Sensory Deprivation, Dystopian Nightmares.

I was really waiting for this album; I love Misery Index and I was sure that after Retaliate and Dissent they would put up an amazing record. As I heard the first track, I immediately noticed the different production, which let me down a bit ( I loved how drums sounded on Dissent and how guitars were like a razor, while here they are a bit muddy) but I listen more to the music than to the sounds.
Riffs were great as ever, memorable and all in MI style, so I was pretty happy. So, what is wrong with this release? Probablyone thing is the tracks' order: there are too many melodic songs in the middle-end, while I like the more aggressive part of the band.

It's sure that the band is continuing to progress in writing music, and going on with the things that made us love 'em: the catchyness, the political lyrics, the shouting vocals, the killer drums and a more melodic approach, but this is not what I'd expected from them. This is a great album, but Overthrow EP, Retaliate and Dissent EP were better.

The next album will be the critical point: if it will be better than this, they will confirm what they have done; but it if it not even good as this, it may be the beginning of the end of the aspect of the band that I love. Let' s hope this is only a passage point. There are highlights that confirm what should be the way of this band: Meet Reality, Unmarked Graves, Sensory Deprivation and Discordia; this is how the band should go on mixing brutality, cathyness and melody.

And what a return to form. First of all let me address the whole Kevin Talley's replacement. Kevin Talley is an excellent DM/Grind drummer, just listen to Retaliate or Dissent, you'll see what i mean...but, Adam Jarvis is in my opinion a better drummer for this type of music, his cymbals use is absolutely fucking owning on this album, it's weird how the headliner of the band leaves, and the replacement quickly headlines the band , therefore, making this an absolute show for drummers out there!!! And let me tell you, i saw MI live touring to support this album and i must tell you, this is just the beginning of a great political charge message. Now that we cover the drummer semi fiasco (which turned out great) let us start the song by song analysis....

Unmarked Graves - Decent intro with like a radio changing stations, been there done that, but once it all starts what hear are those fucking Jason vocals...oh my fucking gods!!!! he is more aggressive than ever!! is that possible? son of a bitch...the riffing has gotten more of a mixed attitude of grind and death on this song, and let's not even yap about the drumming, superb. Sparky's vocals are sort of used on the third verse, and you will notice that this album is mostly Jason vocalizing. On the middle of the song we get a sort of break of a simple riff and the drumming behind. kinda neat. on to THE song....

Conquistadores - First of all, it means conqueror for those who don't know shit of spanish, and this song is the FUCKING CONQUEROR OF THE ALBUM...this is easily my standout track from the get go, it's speed and aggression with the message we all love/hate. Fuck you imperialism!!! with maniacal speedy drumming this song fucking owns, and the main riff takes the song where it wants to be, enough said....

Outsourcing Jehova - The main starting riff is weird for MI standards, but then it evolves into a kind of punkish riff, owning like a 20 dollar prostitute!! This song is the first quick punch you will find on the album, and as you will notice, this continues on, as my only critic of the album is the short time, yet i go back for more....

Breathing Pestilence - It starts off very good, nothing surprising, the standout moment of this track is the chorus, mainly because its the first song with choruses...second because it is sung on a melodic guitar background, and owning all of MI albums before this one, this is new, VERY NEW, i loved it...i can see how fans can yell shit but oh well, its not like the band doesn't own on the rest of the verses, keeping it ripping.

Meet Reality - Incredible intro!!! simply some punkish drumming then the guitars kick in, with that punk feeling, that always had influenced the band. Progresses into a more death metal riff (how the fuck they do it so easily?!) And they switch back and forth between grind and a sort of NYDM feeling (i get the sense of some Suffocation riffing around, can't quite point it out).

Sensory Deprivation - This song starts very slow....not usual for this band. Then a Solo kicks in, the first solo of the album, and then i noticed, is this an instrumental? no, the song is divided into some sort of 2 piece, being the intro of the song, then the grind attack of fucking HELL!!!!!!! Once it all starts to develop we get a fucking catchy tune, Jason spitting his rage more understandably, then another solo, hahahaha never seen before 2 SOLOS ON A MISERY INDEX SONG!!! This song kicks my ass...!!!!...wait another solo!!! the end becomes sort of a lead after lead maniac mayhem so fucking different from them!!! incredible!!

The Medusa Stare - Exploding on the intro, then switching to a sort of riffing i heard on Pyrexia's Sermon of Mockery, don't know why i think of NYDM and this band ....the start stop riff takes the song to weird places for MI camp. Nevertheless, the anger is there!!! Dying Fetus?! is that a band?????

Dystopian Nightmares - This is a great example of tremendous drumming from Adam, he takes the song to a different level that i think Kevin couldn't do, i don't know, it adds so much depth to the album. The guy won't step put, even in the calmer parts he is disturbingly doing something absurd behind the kit.

Disscordia - Weird, this track is mid tempo mostly all the way...once again those Suffocation's riffs...the song takes the sort of beginning of the end approach, i think it sort of sticks with the album in the sense of bringing some sort of rest for the listener...something this band doesn't do that often *note NEVER*....it's different, call it experimentation, i just call it like it is, a break....

Pandemican - Another brief killer, starting Sparky with the singing taking it to a Death metal dimension....i'm possibly death after all the massacre of grind so this is my least favorite track, altought Sparky sings the shit out of himself, but when Jason kicks in, on some brief parts, it sort of goes back to normal territory. This is easily the song to notice the two vocal approach...

After this i am sold, this band is doing something not so different, but since i love political charged grind, they've put the Disscording note (pun intended) on the genre, to be honest i didn't yapped enough about the drumming hahaha, it's that good...the band is a machine now, unstoppable in my eyes, slaugther ensues......
THIS WORLD IS FUCKED UP and WE WILL HEAR IT ALL FROM THEM!!!!!