Recollections of Tragedy & Misery

"Recollections of Tragedy & Misery" is the first and only compilation of this short-lived brutal death metal band from Kingston, Massachusetts. Writing a review about this compilation offers me twice the pleasure because it's an occasion to talk about the two releases contained within it: their 1997 demo "Remain Forever in Misery", and their 1999 album "Drowning in Tragedy" which are their two major releases. Sadly, this band has a relatively short discography, which is extremely frustrating because they were very good and ahead of their time.

Let's start first with the demo, "Remain Forever in Misery".

Its duration is around the 30-minute mark, making it closer to an album than a simple demo or EP. For some reason, the sound here is a bit thicker and warmer than in the album. Although I like the rawness of the album's production, I would say it's a good thing, because it lets us appreciate the band in another light. The riff is very slow and satisfying, at times it almost feels like a death/doom record. But don't get wronged. Eternal Suffering is a brutal death metal with significant amounts of hardcore influences and slams, making their sound very much mosh-oriented like it would be the case with bands such as Internal Bleeding or Dying Fetus. The rhythmic section is perfect here, with a bass clearly audible and a nice but quite classic drum sound (not as iconic as the drum sound of the album). When it comes to the vocals, they are a bit less over-the-top compared to the album, especially the highs (which are more discrete), but still very satisfying. The most curious song is the last one, the title track "Remain Forever in Misery": it starts as a regular Eternal Suffering song until roughly 4:40 and then transitions... into a nu-metal song! Yes, you read it correctly. The riffing and drum play become really bouncy and groovy and the vocals for a few lines are more akin to the rage-filled vocals of nu-metal bands of the time. Something absolutely unexpected and refreshing.

After that starts "Midnight's Embrace" to calm the listener and introduce the album: "Drowning In Tragedy".

Transitioning into one another allows us to perfectly grasp the evolution of the band. The album, more than the preceding demo, sounds extremely new and ahead of its time. This is a brutal death metal album with a bigger hardcore twist to it, it literally feels at times like listening to a band like Suicide Silence (no wonder their guitarist is regularly seen with an Eternal Suffering t-shirt in various interviews and podcasts!).

The sound is overall more raw and crunchier compared to the demo. Almost as if the band was playing live! And this is something I absolutely adore. The guitarists relentlessly torture their guitars, alternating between fast death metal riffs and slow slams, breakdowns and beatdowns, closely followed by tight drumming (with a more typical brutal death metal tone compared to the demo) constantly rewarding us with delicious grooves and slower parts following the blast beat sections. The bass is less audible than on the demo, but is still relatively audible and nice to hear, even having its moment like in the introduction of "Drown in the Candles' Flame" (which is one of the best songs of the album with its awesome breakdown and slam-part at the end). The vocals are really different compared to the demo. They are way more exaggerated, in that the vocalist pushes itself way more. He constantly alternates between low growls and high-pitched shrieks, in a fashion that reminds me a lot of deathcore vocalists in bands such as Suicide Silence, Carnifex or Chelsea Grin: there's no doubt for me that Eternal Suffering is one of the most influential bands on the deathcore scene that would exist just a few years later.

I genuinely think that anyone who loves brutal death metal and deathcore should pay attention to this band. It was too short-lived... but how good! Their musicianship is very impressive, and they were very skillfully integrating punishing mosh parts (term that I use to collectively describe slams, breakdowns and beatdowns) into their very brutal NYDM-like base. Their music wasn't pretentious at all: it feels like they truly enjoyed what they did and wanted other people to partake in their fun.

The compilation ends with two bonus tracks, "Addicts Are Weak" from their 1996 demo, and "J.D.S" which is a previously unreleased track and comes in a limited edition digipak. A nice gift to their dedicated fans, years after disbanding!