Miseration – Tragedy Has Spoken (2012)

The man with the 20 (or so) different bands Christian Älvestam, delivers yet another excellent release in the Death Metal category. Mixing elements of Technical Death Metal, Melodic Death Metal, and the rawness of pure Death Metal, “Tragedy Has Spoken” is a very brutal release that has many different facets to it, making it quite an enjoyable release to dissect over a few dozen spins (or more).

Ripping through the opener “Stepping Stone Agenda”, we immediately know we are in for a devastating release since the guitars deliver waves of aggressive riffs and the vocals are extremely brutal. Christian’s vocal talents are undeniable, and when it comes to do extreme screaming, there are only a handful of people that can be as aggressive and versatile as he is. The drumming is also pretty well crafted and hyper fast, truly crushing indeed.

Moving into more melodic territory, “Ghost Barrier”, and “Ciniphes” present some fun melodic sections mixed with brutal double-kick speed-ups that nicely contrast both aspects of Miseration’s sound. The band’s technical abilities are very clear, and when paying attention to how the dual guitar attack plays off the bass guitar line, is just as good as any technical DM band, minus the extreme flair elements.

Our favorite track in this release is the brilliant stop-and-go approach of “On wings of Brimstone”. In this very aggressive song, the little melodic nooks make it very unique, and the clean vocals immediately reminded us of the old days of Scar Symmetry (with Christian in it obviously). In a darker tone, “While Light / Black Rain” is also one of our album favorites due to its intricate and meaty guitar work and ‘more’ straightforward growls.

Closing with the sickening “Waylayer”, the guitars are nicely pushed to sound even more commanding, and the overall atmosphere on this track nicely provides ‘closure’ for such an excellent release. In terms of production, “Tragedy Has Spoken” features a superb (and powerful) mix that allows everything to be fully appreciated when paying close attention, when not paying much attention, the brutality of the music is the first thing to be noticed.

If you are looking for a Death Metal release that features plenty of crushing vocals, melodic passages, and on top of everything superbly brutal guitar work, “Tragedy Has Spoken” is an album you should not miss. Miseration is constantly getting better and better, making us very excited to see what is coming in the future from this band.

Release: June 29th, 2012

Country: Sweden