### Miseration: Tragedy has spoken

#### 19/10/12 || BamaHammer

Miseration is a band that I honestly had never even heard of before getting them in an edition of Audio Autopsy a few months back, and that’s surprising to me considering that these guys have now releases three rather quality albums over the course of their short but prolific existence. This is not a band that will ever push the envelope of what death metal could be or instill a new brand of groundbreaking death in the scene, but if you’re looking for a healthy dose of decidedly brutal Swedish death metal, these guys will deliver the goods. They know how to do exactly one thing: bring ze fucken death.

First thing’s first. This is a relentless fucken record. The production is pretty immaculate and does nothing but add to the furiousness of the overall sound that Miseration brings to the table here. The only real way I can describe it is by saying that the guitars sound both blazingly hot and razor sharp, which are two descriptors that have nothing to do with sound, but I hope you can wrap your mind around that. When the vocals are added, it provides essentially an insurmountable wall of very angry noise that sounds like it can rip you to shreds. Christian Älvestam’s vocals walk an odd line somewhere between a standard deep growl and a black metal hiss, and the result is fantastic vocal performance that do nothing but enhance the album.

The drum production is also crystal clear, and every single smack, ding, jingle, thump, and thud and any other onomatopoeia you could come up with cuts right through the mix. If you like solid, interesting, and exciting drumming that you can set your watch by, check out Oscar Nilsson on this one. He’s tasty and groovy. On top of everything else, the bass sounds legitimately weighty, and it’s loud enough in the mix to be heard almost all the time. That’s a very good thing.

Now for the actual music to be found here. “Tragedy has spoken” is the third full-length Miseration has vomited upon the world, and I believe it’s their best to date. They don’t try to do anything special or overly artsy. They just instead opt for a straightforward approach to death metal that leaves you feeling pummeled and delightfully satisfied. Several of the tracks here feature a few moments that make me want to listen to them again and again just because of how fucken cool they are.

For instance, the middle of “Ghost barrier” features one of the strangest yet most incredible fade-outs since some of Edge of Sanity’s old stuff. The almost operatic semi-clean shouts at the end of “Stepping Stone Agenda” quite possibly sounds more evil than any growl you’ll find anywhere else on the album. The riff structure in “Ciniphes” is just plain staggering. And “Hill of the Poison Tree” from start to finish (which is really only a shade over two minutes) is one of the absolute best tracks of 2012.

Everyone probably won’t like this album. In fact, quite a few people will probably be turned off by the sheer relentless pounding and brutality it offers. I can see that. But the bottom line is that this is a finely written and fantastic sounding slab of 2012’s best death metal, and if you’re a connoisseur of all things brutal, you owe it to yourself to check out this album.

- Information
- Released: 2012
- Label: Lifeforce
- Website: Miseration Myspace
- Band
- Christian Älvestam: vocals
- Marcus Bertilsson: guitars, bass
- Jani Stefanović: guitars, bass
- Oscar Nilsson: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. Stepping Stone Agenda
- 02. Children of the Flames
- 03. Ghost Barrier
- 04. Ciniphes
- 05. Hill of the Poison Tree
- 06. Disaster Cage
- 07. On Wings of Brimstone
- 08. White Light / Black Rain
- 09. Tomb of Tephra
- 10. Waylayer