Misery Index - Rituals of Power

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The mix between Death Metal and Grindcore is old. It was born in the second half of the 80’s, because Grindcore was, primarily, a fusion of Hardcore fast tempos with the brutality of Death Metal, thus becoming a new musical genre. The fusion with Death Metal makes it even more aggressive, a fine contribution that REPULSION and NAPALM DEATH gave to music. And the North American quartet MISERY INDEX is an excellent act, as their latest album called “Rituals of Power” is here to show.

The band, in reality, cannot be merely labeled as a Death Metal/Grindcore act, because there are many interesting influences that are not common in the genre (as some melodies that are evident on “The Choir Invisible”), and the use of slow tempos in many moments, but it isn’t a pure Death Metal act as well. The influences are not so difficult to be traced, and the listener will rejoice with these aggressive, brutal, but always well worked songs.

Will Putney is the one who made the mixing and the mastering of “Rituals of Power”, creating something brutal and nasty, but clear in a way that the fans will understand everything that is being played. And the excellent set of aggressive instrumental tunes contributes to turn the experience of hearing these songs as a massive holocaust of ears.

Nine massive missiles wait to shut down your nerves, but the Grindcore assault called “Decline and Fall” (perfect blast beats and double bass guiding the tempos), the technical and aggressively abusive “The Choir Invisible” (excellent guitar riffs than incites the slamdanding), the very good grunts presented on “Hammering the Nails”, the Hardcore stench that fills “Rituals of Power”, and the nasty and fast “Naysayer” are their best shots. But “Rituals of Power” is an album that is easy to love, so the experience to hear it fully is needed.

MISERY INDEX is a master on their genre, so listen to this album loud as you can and turn your neighbor’s life miserable.

Originality: 8
Songwriting: 10
Memorability: 8
Production: 9