Misery Signals - Mirrors
Ferret Music - f070 - August 22nd 2006
By The Black Sails
Formed after the breakup of 7 Angels 7 Plagues I had high hopes for Misery Signals, and their first two records - Misery Signals (2003) and From Malice And The Magnum Heart(2004) - slightly disappointed. So with a brand new vocalist joining the line up, one Mr. Karl Schubach, will things change? Placing the prerelease carefully in the CD player and hitting play, 'Face Yourself' bawls out immediately and with an urgency the band have only now found, proceeding to drive itself straight into your cerebral cortex and into the memory banks, to have you singing (if that’s what you can call it) along upon every successive listen. All of the tracks follow this formula, so if you were a fan of the band's dynamics rather than the metal sound you will be very disappointed - this record shows a far more straightforward approach, with the emphasis now being on creating heavy sounds rather than jumping around between five or six different time signatures in a song. This however doesn't make it a bad record for the metal scene, quite the contrary; its a very mediocre album but has a fair few catchy melodies, the track 'One Day I'll Stay Home’ having a particularly sing-a-long-a-chorus, and there are worse things to listen to in the genre (can anyone else remember the first Poison The Well CD?).
It seems that Ferret/Misery Signals spent more time on the album artwork than on the music and the inlay card is an attractive prospect, with the cover giving some indication as to the lyrical content, a contrast of broken and whole faces; every other page playing host to the somewhat typically 'emotional' wording.
Overall I think that a few of the cooler(TM) kids; you know the ones, they call it 'metalcore' because the word 'core' makes it less like metal instead of more; will lose faith in the band because the tracks sound more complete on this record, instead of being a juxtaposition of 17 or 18 other tracks each of about 10 seconds in length. But for anybody that is new to the genre this may be a good way in due to its accessibility and its labelmates on Ferret Records will no doubt provide something good to say about them in the promos, inviting even more listeners. Does this album justify how popular it will be? Not quite. But listen to it and provide your own justification for buying it.
5.5/10
UM's Review Rating Scale
Official Misery Signals website
Official Ferret Music website
Ferret Music - f070 - August 22nd 2006
By The Black Sails
Formed after the breakup of 7 Angels 7 Plagues I had high hopes for Misery Signals, and their first two records - Misery Signals (2003) and From Malice And The Magnum Heart(2004) - slightly disappointed. So with a brand new vocalist joining the line up, one Mr. Karl Schubach, will things change? Placing the prerelease carefully in the CD player and hitting play, 'Face Yourself' bawls out immediately and with an urgency the band have only now found, proceeding to drive itself straight into your cerebral cortex and into the memory banks, to have you singing (if that’s what you can call it) along upon every successive listen. All of the tracks follow this formula, so if you were a fan of the band's dynamics rather than the metal sound you will be very disappointed - this record shows a far more straightforward approach, with the emphasis now being on creating heavy sounds rather than jumping around between five or six different time signatures in a song. This however doesn't make it a bad record for the metal scene, quite the contrary; its a very mediocre album but has a fair few catchy melodies, the track 'One Day I'll Stay Home’ having a particularly sing-a-long-a-chorus, and there are worse things to listen to in the genre (can anyone else remember the first Poison The Well CD?).
It seems that Ferret/Misery Signals spent more time on the album artwork than on the music and the inlay card is an attractive prospect, with the cover giving some indication as to the lyrical content, a contrast of broken and whole faces; every other page playing host to the somewhat typically 'emotional' wording.
Overall I think that a few of the cooler(TM) kids; you know the ones, they call it 'metalcore' because the word 'core' makes it less like metal instead of more; will lose faith in the band because the tracks sound more complete on this record, instead of being a juxtaposition of 17 or 18 other tracks each of about 10 seconds in length. But for anybody that is new to the genre this may be a good way in due to its accessibility and its labelmates on Ferret Records will no doubt provide something good to say about them in the promos, inviting even more listeners. Does this album justify how popular it will be? Not quite. But listen to it and provide your own justification for buying it.
5.5/10
UM's Review Rating Scale
Official Misery Signals website
Official Ferret Music website
