![]() I feel as though Misery Signals have gained the necessary mastery over the formula that has garnered them success throughout all of Ultraviolet, you can obviously tell that the music you are listening to is metalcore at its finest. “The Tempest” sets the expectations high for the rest of the record, proving that the veteran band haven’t lost their charm. ![]() The return of Jesse Zaraska is notable, especially because his vocal style is absolutely flawless for this style of music. As powerful and skilled as the instrumentation is, I must admit that the vocals steal the show. Right out of the gate, Misery Signals begin a relentless onslaught of intensity that seems unparalleled when compared to other modern metalcore releases. Ultraviolet starts strong with the album’s first single, “The Tempest”. This album will be incredibly special to fans from the early days, as it is their first record since their debut full-length Of Malice and the Magnum Heart to include the entire original line-up! Their new album Ultraviolet continues with the band’s legacy, but also shows growth and maturity. The band originally caught my attention with their ability to seamlessly combine emotional melodies with immense brutality. Each of these bands managed to introduce me to my new interest: metalcore.Ībout ten years removed from my initial discoveries, my overall interest in metalcore has dwindled, but Misery Signals have quickly reminded me of what was so fascinating about the genre. In the late 2000s, I saw Unearth opening for Testament, Killswitch Engage opening for Slayer, and Lamb of God opening for Metallica. Strangely enough, my infatuation with all of these classic heavy artists birthed my enjoyment of a different subgenre. The aggression was attractive to me, and I became absolutely enthralled with checking out as many bands as I could find. I first traversed the expansive genre with my introduction to Metallica and Megadeth, and soon I found myself loving everything about thrash metal. Nevertheless, in the big picture of hardcore and heavy metal's evolution through the new millennium's first decade, Controller at least shows Misery Signals to be in full control of their destiny and their chosen craft - even if it's no longer considered cutting-edge.My early years of listening to metal were sufficiently cliché. I mean, is a little sense of outright spontaneity too much to ask for, when an infamously crazed genius like Devin Townsend is acting as producer? Add to that a relative shortage of unexpected twists, beyond a little taste of Meshuggah's wacky rhythmic lurch to start off "A Certain Death," and some nice displays of dreamy atmospherics in "Coma" and "Reset," and the established Misery Signals template would surely feel far too restricted and safe, were they any less commanding of its every nuance. The fact that vocalist Karl Schubach competently matches his bandmates' every musical mood swing with alternately grunted, barked, sung, or spoken passages goes without saying but there are times when one wishes that the entire group would simply loosen up a little, relinquish some of their iron-fisted performance discipline, and get down with their wild side. Typical energized jolts of catchy, concise metallic hardcore such as "Nothing," "Labyrinthian," "Set in Motion," and "Homecoming" fluidly rotate crunchy, bruising, yet agile riffs with luminous, oftentimes angelic harmonies, capable of latching onto listeners' memory banks like some evil sort of hot taffy. And, for what it's worth, Controller slots quite comfortably alongside either of its very accomplished predecessors, showing that Misery Signals continue to excel at commingling both sides of the heavy/light emotional spectrum that defines their chosen genre. With the release of their third album, Controller, in he summer of 2008, Milwaukee, WI's Misery Signals effectively cast their lot with the collective fate of the rest of the melodic metalcore movement - in sickness and in health - as it gradually wanes in popularity on its way to being replaced by.oh, who knows? And who cares, both the group and its many fans might ask, since there's arguably as much historical precedent suggesting bands are always better off sticking to their stylistic guns, than hopping bandwagons in search of the next, fashionably trendy sub-sub-subgenre.
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