Miseration, Your Demons Their Angels
Featuring Scar Symmetry vocalist Christian Alvestam and Essence of Sorrow guitarist Janl Stefanovic, Miseration attempts to blend melodic Swedish death metal with its more technical brethren found in the U.S. Overall, the band’s debut Your Demons Their Angels accomplishes this task, but really doesn’t bring anything new to the table. That’s not, however, to say this isn’t a good album.
Through nine tracks, the band deliver a huge, powerful sound. Crushing death metal riffs combat melodic choruses to create a dynamic and juxtaposed sound that is built upon beefy rhythms. The vocals range from harsh, guttural growls to cleanly sung melodies smoothly. Even without any sort of genre twisting or leaping this album has still found itself in my disc player more times than I can count.
Thrones
“Thrones” opens up the album with bruising rhythms and driving guitars. The main vocal delivery is deep, guttural and pretty damned ferocious, but is mixed with some softer spoken portions, as well. There’s a decent lead at 3:45 that lasts a good while. Definitely a strong way to open up the album.
Perfection Destroyed
Following up that opener isn’t an easy task, but Miseration do pretty damned well with “Perfection Destroyed.” The track opens up with searing guitars and pummeling drums before shifting into a pummeling and crushing groove as the vocals come in. A melodic chorus completely shifts the mood but keeps the pace flowing strongly toward the end of the track.
Seven Are The Sins
An aural onslaught erupts from the speakers as this next one gets under way. The pace is unrelenting and bruising. Keyboards come in during the chorus and add a new depth to the band’s sound. Lots of tempo shifts and double bass will leave you dizzy after this one is done.
World Lethality
“World Lethality” starts off quietly with light guitar work and ambient, mood setting noise. The track really doesn’t get going until the two minute mark as the vocals come in clean and melodic with a quickened pace. The four minute mark sees a serious dose of melodic death metal before jumping into more double bass. Layered vocals add a nice touch to this one.
The End Designed
A dramatic opening of solid riffs and thundering drums gets this next one off to a decent start. More pummeling blasts are peppered with keyboards that add a bit of a unique sound to this one as compared to the rest of the disc so far. The pace is maniacal and pretty damned ferocious.
Chain – Work Soul
Memorable guitars fade in with a steady beat at the start of “Chain – Work Soul.” Layered vocals come with a some what less vicious delivery that fits the lighter sound of the track well. A cleanly sung, melodic chorus is a nice touch on this one, as well. It’s quite catchy and, for lack of a better comparison, rather radio friendly.
Noctivagant
“Noctivagant” begins with a load of double bass and driving riffs for the first 20 seconds or so before the group settles into a melodic death metal groove as the vocals come in. I love the thundering rhythms just before the two minute mark — head banging fun. More keyboards after the three minute mark add some depth to the track.
Foul Invective
Chugging riffs and catchy hooks get this next one off to a pretty decent start as Miseration jumps into a galloping pace with the introduction of the vocals. The chorus is catchy as hell, despite the pro-Christian rhetoric that the track holds. There’s even a decent breakdown just after 2:30 that will have you head banging along violently, then the group hits you with a series of sharp leads just before the three minute mark.
Scattering The Few
The closing track starts off bruising and aggressive with massive drum work and driving riffs. There’s a nice staggered pace as the vocals jump from clean to guttural and back again swiftly. It’s a pretty strong way to end a pretty decent album.
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It’s always interesting to see how side projects differ from the sound of the band member’s main or previous musical incarnations. For the most part, Miseration do a decent job of mixing technical brutality with melodic death metal, but there are many similarities to the likes of Scar Symmetry that one wonders why a side project was necessary. Either way, You Demons, Their Angels is a pretty good album that’s loads of fun to listen to whether or not you’re into the pro-Christian message that the band members have chosen to present on the disc.
Favorite Tracks:
All of them
Additional Notes:
N/A