Misery Speaks

Try as one might, it is difficult not to groan when those initial bursts of Gothenburg melody grace your ears, even more so when followed by the inevitable "crucial mosh part.” Any band trying their hand at this style already has some of the most extensive genre saturation since Florida death metal stacked against them, but to be fair, Misery Speaks make a solid case for themselves. Veering more towards the metal side of the metre, fans of Darkest Hour or Dead to Fall are the clear target audience here. While the occasional scrapings from the bottom of the Swedish barrel do rear their ugly heads, the riffing and overall musicianship seems strangely confident for an act that could easily be labelled as a needless, generic addition to a dying fad. These guys truly to appear to be doing it for themselves — the breakdowns never seem forced and there is nary a clean chorus to be found. An interesting inclusion is the periodic dabbling in Neurosis-like ambience and repetition, which is used with startling fluidity and would be a good point of expansion for future releases. Having Swedish metal icon Dan Swano (best known for his work with Edge of Sanity and Bloodbath) behind the mixing board certainly doesn’t hurt either. Not an inch of new ground broken, but an admirable attempt.