Miseration | ‘The Mirroring Shadow’

First off, all the guys that make up Miseration have all been in a huge amount of bands that I’ve never heard of. The sole exception to that is the gravel-throated Chris Alvestam, formerly of Scar Symmetry, who heads this bunch of technical metallers who come to us straight from Europe’s usual heartland of melodic brutality, Sweden.

One thing you can probably rely upon when a group is comprised of individuals who have been in multiple bands for years is that they’ll most likely have the gumption between them to deliver this style in a reasonably professional manner, and thankfully this second effort from Miseration proves that they do.

‘The Mirroring Shadow’ takes its ques from a reasonably broad amount of sources, with everything from At The Gates to technical bonkery not far from Spawn of Possession being lashed out over its thirty six minutes. The first brace of tracks fairly blast out of the speakers, delivering a meaty if somewhat clinical riff-fest that ticks all the expected boxes.

Their fellow countrymen Visceral Bleeding could certainly be recalled thanks to the rapid fire growls and guitar sweeps, but this is somewhat more melodically minded. Despite the speed that the group gladly display, they really shouldn’t be counted as a typically brutal Death Metal band, with a very rich and processed guitar tone and tendencies to briefly jump into uplifting melodic sections showing they have a lot more in common with the Gothenburg pedigree than at first impressions.

Despite these moments of keyboardy floating, they rarely catch onto anything that sticks out from the multitude of riffs they fling at the listener. Things seem best on ‘Sulphery Sun’, when a steadfast commitment to ferocity lasts for the whole duration of the track - a touch of gloomy picking at the end helping to wrap up a very satisfying few minutes.

Their competence is obvious, but the fact is there’s just not enough here to really distinguish the band in their field, neither kicking enough ass or generating enough hooks to really drawn the hand back to the ‘Play’ button. The bottom line is that big fans of technical and melodic Death will probably be happy to have checked out Miseration, but the rest of us will need something a little more distinct to keep our attention.

2.7 / 5 - Lorcan Archer ::: 20/11/09