Misery Index - Heirs To Thievery
Relapse Records
Metalcore with Brutal Death elements
11 songs (34:21)
Release year: 2010
Misery Index, Relapse Records
Reviewed by Khelek

I started listening to Misery Index about 4 years ago when I was starting to get into brutal death metal and grindcore to a larger extent. Their 2003 release Retaliate was somewhat impressive, showing that the band could create an atmosphere while staying aggressive. A few albums and lineup changes later, Misery Index have gone in a somewhat different direction, dropping much of the original complexity in favor of simpler riffs and song structures. This is unfortunate for me because the added complexity is originally what drew me to the band, but nevertheless I decided to check their latest effort Heirs To Thievery, hoping to glimpse a light at the end of the tunnel.

The first song, Embracing Extinction, is very short and to the point. There is definitely some brutal death metal influence here, but its been simplified. It's tough to label this music, though I would place it between grindcore and deathcore. The vocals sound inspired by the likes of Nergal in his more recent work, very brutal and accompanied by simple, chugging riffs. Fed To The Wolves doesn't step things up at all, but it keeps the same fast pace. Drums and guitars are the standard brutal death metal fair; blastbeats and choppy, downtuned riffs. They throw in some guitar soloing towards the end, but nothing good enough to really get my attention. The title track sounds more like death metal than anything, reminding me of Arsis and Behemoth. The drumming from Adam Jarvis is extremely fast and quite good, never really letting you rest. The Spectator has an almost poppy feeling to it. With a little tweaking, it could be on the next Bullet For My Valentine album. The album continues in this same direction with songs like The Illuminaught and You Lose. Many songs on this album have this same sort of catchiness to them, but in the end the songs are too much alike and too simple to make me want to listen. Perhaps that's why they are so short, to trick you into thinking you missed something. Occasionally there's a guitar solo or two that slices through the chugging riffs, but don’t blink or you'll probably miss them.

Heirs To Thievery contains some decent heavy music at times, the drumming and vocals are especially good, but it's all very 1-dimensional. At no point will you feel like you're listening to something fresh and new. The thing is I know that this band has talents elsewhere, their more grindcore inspired releases prove they can create something with a bit more depth. After listening to this album at least 6 or 7 times I think I now understand the idea behind Misery Index's current direction. These guys are clearly fans of bands like All Shall Perish, Behemoth, Decapitated, etc, etc. I think what they want to accomplish is that same level of in-your-face heaviness and aggression, but in a more accessible package. It's not an altogether unattainable or unworthy goal (though I'm sure many would beg to differ), but Misery Index unfortunately took out all the brains and left only the brawn. When their music first hits you, you can feel the speed and the overall sonic heaviness of the music, but it doesn't strike me as having much emotion or thought behind it. This is sad because I am a fan of the band's earlier work, which saw them trying to accomplish the same goals, but doing it in a more interesting way than just slamming a bunch of heavy, fast riffs into you and expecting the listener to provide the rest. This is great for kids who just want something loud and heavy to rock out to, but for those who wish to actually be moved by their music, this is not the album for you. Pick up the latest Behemoth or All Shall Perish instead.

Killing Songs :
If you like one, you'll probably like them all
Khelek quoted 61 / 100
Other albums by Misery Index that we have reviewed:
Misery Index - The Killing Gods reviewed by Goat and quoted 80 / 100
Misery Index - Traitors reviewed by Goat and quoted 52 / 100
Misery Index - Retaliate reviewed by Jay and quoted 70 / 100
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