Misery Index – Complete Control

It is no secret that Misery Index has named themselves after a track of the 1997 released album of one of the best Grindcore bands from the USA, Assück. But it is hard to keep remembering that, as Misery Index is drifting away from their primal sounds further and further. ‘Complete Control’ is the band’s seventh full-length album and first one for Century Media Records, after having released albums for Nuclear Blast Records, Relapse Records and Season Of Mist we can say that the band has somewhat been all over the place, but seems a little lost both musically and ideologically.

But, let’s not be all too biased, like a wise man once said: “music maestro!”. Because that is, at the end of the day, what counts and the reason why you are reading this. Well, let’s just start off with a conclusion, ‘Complete Control’ does sound like a decent record but fails to leave anything remotely memorable. Yes, it has all the things you’d come to expect from the band, some nice groovy riffs, blast beats, barking Grindcore-like vocals, but looking at it from a distance, little is actually left. The melodic leads and gang-vocals may seem like a nice dynamic addition to the music, but it really only detracts from the band’s core and values. At times, it seems a bit like a runaway Metalcore band or, dare I say it, rabid In Flames. The moments where the band still bears some resemblance to Dying Fetus or later Napalm Death are scarce, but on a song like ‘Necessary Suffering’ it does rear its head for a bit.

Now not exactly the thing that made me love the band. Of course, this is not a sudden change but one that has unfolded over the course of the past few years, but that doesn’t lessen the unpleasant feeling of this observation. For me, I don’t need this more modern sound and prefer to stick with some of Misery Index’s older EPs, or, even better, with Assück.