Rituals of Power

Some people might think that I'm being overly generous with this rating, but I believe it's because I think the album is totally flawless. What we have here is some serious death/grind. The whole of it isn't grind though, there are slower tempos and riff-writing. It isn't like Napalm Death - Harmony Corruption, meaning that it lets up in tempos and there aren't an insane style of Mick Harris blasts. I do believe he could out-blast any grind drummer if he still played. Well anyway, I think that the music and the vocals are worthy of praise throughout the whole album. There isn't a dull moment on this release at all.

What took me aback was the musicianship totally. Misery Index is just a band I'm learning new of. This 2019 release here is the only one I've heard from the band and was blown away! I hope to discover more of their previous releases since I do like death/grind bands. I'm surprised that I've JUST discovered them because they've been around. However, this new material is amazing. The guitars and vocals as well as the production quality were just superb. So yeah, definitely a band I'm going to start following after hearing this! They begin the album a little slow, and then it gets thick and simply priceless.

What we have here is a compilation of songs that are just extraordinary. They don't let up in intensity except for certain slow bits. They wanted to be diverse I suppose especially in their compositions. So expect the unexpected on here. I cannot compare this to prior releases because as I've stated they're new to me. I think that all of the songs are good. There are a mixture of death/grind totally. They've revived the love for these combo genres. And the vocals are awesome, too. It suits the music totally. It keeps it totally underground like it should. But it seems to be totally consistent with this.

If you've never discovered Misery Index, discover them now. Download this album on Spotify or use YouTube who maybe has it. I know Spotify does, so get it. If you're not convinced that they deserve this high of a rating, let me eat my words. I'm sure that after you hear it, you might want to do the band some justice and buy the physical CD. This will show the band that CD's aren't totally obsolete and that you're trying to keep them alive. Support their music because they have so much to offer the metal community. If you don't want to contribute, then fine, don't show the band this, that you're not a faithful fan. OWN THIS!

An unspoken rule among professionals yet sustains that anyone spending a decade doing anything should find success (or great skill) upon that milestone or risk looking like a damn fool chipping away beyond the peak of their abilities. This didn’t necessarily apply, at all, to Jason Netherton and the majority of his early Misery Index line-up as they saw exodus from Dying Fetus (circa 2001) just as the band had secured considerable success a decade deep. Though the pit metal fandom couldn’t have heard anything but progress, those involved would reach a point of creative blight where that hardcore brutality wasn’t much more than a job and the passion for the template had drawn little fuel to soldier on. Named for the exemplary exit of Assück‘s career and sporting three-fourths of Dying Fetus‘ line-up Misery Index wouldn’t shake that ‘Destroy the Opposition 2.0’ stigma until the release of the crust/grindcore influenced break of ‘Retaliate’ in 2003. From that point the project would serve as a certain distillation of deathgrind, an accessible grindcore experience boiled into a concentrate of no frills hardcore influenced death metal. This’d persist until that decade marker hit once more and Misery Index would become a relatively part-time venture by 2011 or so, just beyond their fourth record ‘Heirs to Thievery’ (2010). With that history behind them and an easygoing attitude moving forward it comes as a great surprise that the projects sixth album comes as their most inspired release of the last decade or so.

‘Retaliate’ is a solid album and absolutely the sort of record I recommend to people looking for an ‘in’ to the world of deathgrind, grindcore, and extreme music in general; There are melodic sections within Misery Index‘ full-length debut that pull influence from both neocrust and classic grindcore and set them within to a full on post-millennial death metal sound that served as a solid enough archetypal performance level for many folks. As that reference ages towards the two decade mark it becomes harder to recommend and while ‘Traitors’ (2008) helped carry the project into relevance (within the modern higher-profile extreme metal touring sect) today there are thousands of better options for the mainstream-to-underground conversion pieces (Nails, for example). As a fan, I stopped buying Misery Index records after the first though, I was happy to see them live as they’ve always been a fantastically heavy precision performance. The major point of recommendation for ‘Rituals of Power’ from that perspective is that I’d actually be inclined to pick up this latest record and it has persisted in my rotation far beyond expectations so far. Some of that enthusiasm comes from 2016 when Netherton put in some work with the inspired debut from Asphalt Graves but I’d say ‘Rituals of Power’ incorporates late 90’s hardcore influences to much greater, lasting effect.

The bloodied, stone-encased skeleton clutching a tombstone reading ‘veritas’ offers a less than subtle indication of the lyrical focus of ‘Rituals of Power’ which criticizes and warns of our age of disinformation and the bold untruths currently manufacturing cattle culture globally. Misery Index is as blunt as their influences in this regard and if there was on aspect of their whole act that is purely ‘old school’ it’d be that bluntness. It wouldn’t be obscene to suggest that Misery Index at their most relaxed, part-time expresses as a more thoughtful crew at their very best finalizing their ideas and recording them long-distance between several studios. It is a modern undertaking for a band that’d surely felt aged and increasingly rote as they chilled out. I appreciate this record for the ‘tightening of the screws’ that it is, an appropriate reaction to nihilistic times among anxious tech-zombie children and peak heavy music fandom and my warming up to it might simply speak to how ‘classic’ of a deathgrind record ‘Rituals of Power’ is. Despite the Xibalbas, Nails and Dyscarnates shoving their way into the muscular spectrum of hardcore/deathgrind permutations there is something comparatively revitalizing about putting on this latest Misery Index and seeing that level of heavy done with seemingly effortless skill. Is this Hatebreed assed death-moshing grind record going to have a huge impact on my 2019? No, probably not but I can still recommend it to folks who want to take a look back at the early days of Misery Index through a modern lens and spirited performance. Moderate recommendation. For preview “The Choir Invisible” is the catchiest moment here outside of the hardcore hits of “New Salem’ and I’d generally start with those two tracks; If you feel like jumping off from there give the title track a shot to get a more complete idea of where ‘Rituals of Power’ goes.

Attribution: https://grizzlybutts.com/2019/03/03/misery-index-rituals-of-power-2019-review/

I've been a metal fan for a long time. Not since Black Sabbath's prime long, but I am somewhere in the several decade range. A lot has changed in the 5 years since The Killing Gods, as tends to happen in any given 5 year span you can choose in life. Somewhere along the way I got married and had kids, adopted a dog, bought a house, pretty un-metal stuff, and my metal listening suffered slightly. I have never stopped listening to new releases or my old favorites, but suddenly I'm finding it harder and harder to listen as much as I would like, or turning to my other preferred genre, classic country music. Why the fuck does any of this matter? Because Misery Index just released a new album and it's so good I have been insatiably ravaging their music like a wolf on a dog in heat.

Misery Index has always been one of my favorite bands, but as we grow older our tastes evolve and mature. Surely I still adore Cannibal Corpse and Deicide, bands from my adolescence, but they don't fulfill a three dimensional space. All this time Misery Index has been steadily moving up my top 10 list of bands and they just may be in number 1 now, or at the very least firmly cemented in the top 3. Rituals of Power is so ferocious, so savage, and has so much attitude, it takes me right back to hearing heavy music that makes me want to dismantle my own car from the inside while I'm unintentionally going faster and faster on the freeway while listening.

I have never been a fan of political music, due to its very nature of "with us or against us" ethos, but Misery Index does it differently. They lay out topics and their opinions in an open-ended discussion rather than in a preaching manner, and it's thinking music. The topics and ideas tend to lean toward left-leaning politics, but it isn't at all excluding people of other ideas, and they do attack all sides of the argument with songs like New Salem. Long story short, their lyrics are some of the best out there and rather unique in death metal, borrowing a bit from their grind heritage.

This is a swiftly-moving album with little breathing room after the intro track, Universal Untruths. Where The Killing Gods was a bit more death metal, Rituals of Power brings back the grindy Heirs to Thievery vibe, and THAT album is probably my favorite of this entire decade we're wrapping up, so we're in good company here. There are a few slower moments like the break at the end of Decline and Fall and it hits HARD. Every song after that goes by in a blur, a great blur, that begs to be played again. My only complaint here is that we heard 4 singles of the 9 songs before release, but that is hardly a complaint.

BUY THIS ALBUM if you have ever enjoyed any single Misery Index song before. The great dual vocal attack continues to impress and tighten, grindy guitars, great leads, and can we talk about fucking Jarvis for a moment?! This guy is a machine and he is always interesting to single out and listen to. This album may also boast possibly the best production of their career. Seriously, Misery Index don't fail. My only wish is we can get another LP or EP in a bit less than 5 years, but if that's what it takes, then I'll be waiting.

Misery Index is a band I listened to backwards. After their amazing album, "The Killing Gods", I was hooked. I immediately started listening to their previous efforts and they seemed to only get better the more I dug into their library. I loved that early grind feel, but also loved their slower stuff as I got into more recent releases. Misery Index seemed to have song structure down pat. Their early stuff had a more straight forward speedy approach while their more recent releases had longer songs, but switched it up keeping each song fresh with something to look forward to. I truly love their entire catalogue and find something no matter what musical mood I am in. For that, I love Misery Index. I was extremely excited when I found out they had a new album releasing this year. How could they top "The Killing Gods"? The more I listen to that album, the more I find it damn near perfect. The single, "New Salem", released and I couldn't stop listening to it. I was completely hyped for the new album. So, the album dropped and I immediately went onto Spotify anxiously.

What I got wasn't bad, but also wasn't the Misery Index I fell in love with. In fact, it felt like a completely watered down version of everything I enjoyed previously. The song structure on this album is so much more simple and straight forward than their previous work. Each song has almost the same sound as the one before. They up the speed in some cases, but most of the album is very repetitious. "The Killing Gods" had such complexity with each song. There were so many elements and layers, it became addicting after a while. I love going back to their previous work and hearing things I never noticed before.

This album is no different in the drumming aspect, but I feel that even Adam Jarvis has lowered the intensity quite a bit. Songs like "New Salem", "I Disavow", "Naysayers", and "Decline and Fall" are the classic drumming style that I expected out of a follow up to "The Killing Gods". I'm not saying that he has given up or doesn't give a shit on this release, but I find those songs that I went back for on previous albums are a thing of the past. There is no revisiting these songs to find little nuggets. Everything is in your face and pretty easy to listen to. Go back and listen to "Gallows Humor" off of "TKG" and see if you can find the same complexity on "Rituals of Power". It's just not there.

It's not just the drumming that I feel went down, but the song structure as well. As the songs get longer, so do the guitar sections. The dip in quality of the guitar work has been shown. Solos are few and far between and when they do appear, they are nothing special. On their earlier releases, I didn't expect as many because of track length and it being more grind oriented. However, the songs on "Rituals of Power" have gotten a lot longer and there is nothing to break up them up anymore. The only thing these guys do is go from moderately fast playing to slow playing, then back to moderately fast again. Out of the nine songs on this album, five of them go over the four-minute mark. Two of them are over five minutes and I have to tell you, they definitely needed some cutting. This album is only 37 minutes long, but it feels way longer than "TKG", which sits at 45 minutes.

I feel like I bashed this album quite enough, but what are the positives you ask? Well, there are many actually. Despite everything I said above, I did enjoy this album. It's not up to normal Misery Index style, but it's better than a lot of other albums coming out this year so far. The intro track, "Universal Truths" leads beautifully into the second track, "Decline and Fall". Both tunes seem like one giant track that helped me stay optimistic the first time through. There was a little hiccup with, "The Choir Invisible", but the solo is damn good and it lead into "New Salem". "New Salem" is one of my favorite songs on the album, next to the title track "Rituals of Power" and "Naysayer". There are bangers on this record that I will revisit from time to time, but then there are some songs that I think should have been cut entirely. "They Always Come Back" is painfully boring and it being the second longest tune on this album, it's a chore to listen to. After 34 minutes, we get to the last track of the album, "Naysayer" and holy shit. This is the Misery Index I miss. Everything is in full swing and I felt like I was listening to "Discordia" again. I think that it definitely should have been higher up, but I feel like the album goes out with a bang with that song. If every song was up to that caliber, I would have been one happy man.

Overall, I'm not saying this album is a huge piece of shit. I don't think Misery Index is capable of creating a shitty album. This is just not up to par with their previous efforts. I bet a lot of people said that when Misery Index was stepping away from their grind sound too though. So, if this is your first Misery Index album then you might enjoy it and be curious to dig deeper into their catalogue. Since I have been a fan of them for a few years now and was able to appreciate all of their music over the years, I just feel like there is more to be desired. It's definitely worth the purchase, but don't go in expecting to be the usual Misery Index stamp of quality.

Recommended songs are: "Universal Untruths", "Decline and Fall", "New Salem", "Rituals of Power", and "Naysayer"