Misery Index - Traitors
Relapse Records
Deathcore
11 songs (37:30)
Release year: 2008
Misery Index, Relapse Records
Reviewed by Goat

Call me cynical, but I wasn’t expecting much from the new Misery Index album, and a fair few listens later I’m sort of wishing that I hadn’t bothered with it at all. Made up of former Dying Fetus and current Criminal Element members, the band play pretty straight-up Death/Grind, and, well, that’s it. You can hear the Dying Fetus meets Morbid Angel formula here loud and clear, and whilst the band are undeniably good at what they do, especially the guitarists, all in all Traitors is strangely unexciting. It clashes along fairly enthusiastically, but all too often chugs along mid-pace instead of going for your neck – stand up and be recognised, Partisans Of Grief. What I always found especially disappointing about this band was that rather than try and create their own sound, they continued down the Dying Fetus path, and didn’t do it half as well as Gallagher and co. Most of the time, in fact, they sound like a Deathcore band trying to imitate them – the title track takes this to the point of pure dullness, with possibly the most boring chorus ever recorded by a Death Metal band.

It’s not all bad, though. There are moments, the five-minute Ghosts Of Catalonia for instance, where the band seem to suddenly swing into kickass songwriting mood and the little pinches of atmosphere present give it an epic quality that Misery Index could have exploited to make a much more interesting album. Alas, these hints of genius are scattered few and far between, and for every track as good as that there’s a bunch of Fetus-esque snoozefests like Occupation, which like most of the album slips back into comfort territory in the form of that groovy riffing which is so overused and unoriginal these days. Oh, and please, if you're going to advertise your band as really, really crushing and heavy, actually ensuring that the music is heavy might be a good first step.

I suppose a positive review would pause here to mention how At The Gates’ Thomas Lindberg guests on Ruling Class Cancelled (the most significant guest spot here for yours truly, not being a massive fan of The Red Chord) and how this proves that Misery Index have become a known name in the Death Metal world, but I honestly couldn’t care less. The song is brief and pointless, adding nothing to the album, and whilst the slightly more epic Thrown Into The Sun comes along to improve things with another dash of grandeur, all in all Traitors was an unoriginal album that fans will love and proclaim the band’s best, whilst people like me scowl from the sidelines and call them rude names.

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Killing Songs :
Ghosts Of Catalonia, Thrown Into The Sun
Goat quoted 52 / 100
Other albums by Misery Index that we have reviewed:
Misery Index - The Killing Gods reviewed by Goat and quoted 80 / 100
Misery Index - Heirs To Thievery reviewed by Khelek and quoted 61 / 100
Misery Index - Retaliate reviewed by Jay and quoted 70 / 100
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