### Miseration: The mirroring shadow

#### 29/12/09 || GardensTale

The first time this band’s name passed into my scopes was around the time I was hooked on Scar Symmetry. Because lo and behold, the same guy does growls for both. Or well, did, as he quit the Scarry bunch. But I also recall Miseration never did quite stick the first time round. Now they come back round into my sights as they asked us to review their shit. Ka is a wheel, right?

So, I went into this with my previous experience in mind. And basically, I got what I expected, which is why it took me months to actually get something written about the album.

Describing Miseration is fairly easy, as they’re not trying to break new ground. What we have here is fairly hard-hitting modern death metal. Not melodic death metal; there’s slightly melodic bits here and there but it’s never the focus. The ‘modern’ indication is meant more as a nod to the crisp production and general tightness. Old school death metal is often intentionally sloppy, like they’re using their heads to bash onto the strings and drums, but this shit here is tight like a 12 year old virgin pussy. Like your mom’s when you were conceived. Zing.

It’s all played well, there’s some really nice technical shit going on here and there (the opener has a nice schizo feeling to it, playing the riffs and drums with quick sidesteps after every burst) but again, not much seems to stick for me. The epic title track is a sure standout, partly because it’s one of the only exceptions to the quite high to really rather fucking high speed throughout the album. “Sulphury Sun” on the other hand goes right into overdrive mode, until plunging into a headbang section dangerously close to a breakdown.

I’m quite certain some people will absolutely love this album to death, and all the power to them. The musicality is great, Älvestam’s throat is a fucking treat, the production is crisp without sacrificing balls, and it’s really hard to say anything bad about it. Nonetheless, it doesn’t stick for me as much as I’d like it to. It’s more one of those albums you have on your computer for 7 months before trying it again because you forgot why you kept it in the first place. However, I’d still recommend death metal fanatics to try it out. Because after all, this is only me, and you’re you. It won’t surprise me if it’ll stick like glue to you, if you like well-executed modern death; personally, however, I can’t give it more than the score below.

Before we go, though, I need to say one thing, a remark I never bothered with before on any album. Holy fucking shit, that’s one kickass album cover.

- Information
- Released: 2009 (Europe), 2010 (USA)
- Label: Lifeforce Records
- Website: Miseration MySpace
- Band
- Christian Älvestam: vocals
- Jani Stefanovic: guitars, bass, drums
- Marcus Bertilsson: guitars
- Johan Ylenstrand: bass
- Rolf “Stuka” Pilve: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. Dreamdecipher
- 02. Blueprinted Aeon Collapse
- 03. Voyaging The Seas Of Thought
- 04. The Mirroring Shadow
- 05. A Trail Blazed Through Time
- 06. Dimorphic
- 07. Sulphury Sun
- 08. Imago 2.0
- 09. Theca