By Matt Lewis
One of the hardest working bands in metal is back with another album. Heirs To Thievery is the latest offering from the guys in Misery Index. I say one of the hardest working bands because they constantly tour everywhere with every new album they put out, which is almost a yearly cycle. That being said you would think that with having put out records consistently that they might have some hit or miss records with all of the constant writing. Fortunately it has had the opposite effect. The original members Sparky and Jason have taken a step back and allowed newest members Adam (drums) and Mark (guitar/backup vocals) to write a lot of songs over the last couple records which has kept the writing fresh and evolutionary. From the first single these guys put out they have been evolving their sound slightly from record to record. I don’t know if this has been an intentional, conscious decision or if it is simply because of years of lineup changes. Although the last three records have had a solid lineup, the slight changes in sound have been there since the beginning.
This album has all the necessary vitamins and minerals for a growing metal fan with a few surprises along the way. The song “Fed to the Wolves” in particular has a great solo that was unexpected. Heavy guitars with groove, fast sections of incendiary speed and aggression, vocals with some variety, lyrics of a political and social nature and drumming that is stupidly fast and precise. Adam Jarvis is a drummer that should get more recognition than he does in the drumming community. His performances are consistently balanced with flow, technicality and speed. For the older metal fan all grown this is like a vodka and red bull. It will keep you up and going so you can make more stupid drunken decisions so you can regret that thing you did behind the bar in the alley that got you a particularly nasty case of the herps.
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8.5
