By Albert Mansour
Misery Index is a long running death/grind outfit from Baltimore, Maryland. This album, their debut full length, was recorded originally back in April 2003 at Wild Studio in St-Zenon, Quebec and it is one of the most blistering technical, speed shattering, deathgrind cds of all time. The guitar playing is excellent and exciting, and the drumming is even more jaw dropping: it’s constantly all over the kit and slams out beats with both awesome precision and speed. Tracks like “The Unbridgeable Chasm,” “Angst Isst Die Seele Auf” and “History Is Rotten” are just brutal. Crushing riffs and mind blowing drumming rank this album among the top modern death metal albums. Misery Index will appeal to fans of Napalm Death, Cephalic Carnage, Dying Fetus and Suffocation. I just can’t say enough about the superb job they’ve done here. Jason Netherton (Ex- Dying Fetus) does a great job approaching the album with a dual-vocal style from hell. Almost indecipherable growls coupled with higher-pitched vocals (which are still deep anyway) make this album very intriguing to listen to, plus add in a cover of Brutal Truth’s “Birth of Ignorance” to top it off. This current edition is limited to 1000 copies on digi-pak and has been digitally remastered using 24-Bit process on a gold disc. The fine folks at Metal Mind Productions did a top notch work on the re-release of this album. Definitely a must if you’re a deathbanger.
http://www.myspace.com/miseryindex
(Metal Mind Productions)
