Misery Index – Retaliate (Nuclear Blast)
Oh, my, how much we love Nucular Blast. They’ve been pretty much unable to release a bad album lately, and this is no exception. This is brutal, brutal metal. Grindcore, death metal, hardcore, and socialist doctrine all come together to give you one final, swift kick to the head. I love this album. It’s so heavy, even the songs that aren’t exactly catchy, are just so overtly brutal and mean, you can’t ignore them. And there are breakdowns and solos and parts where you can’t even figure out what the hell is going on. It’s just really awesome, and my rambling won’t help you understand. But believe me, this is damn near genre-defining, and I for one am hooked. Read the lyrics and be illuminated.
Tracks:
1) Starts out with a slow intro, and then blasts into full metal mode with breakdowns and stuff. Awesome.
2) Even better, with a very driving rhythm, and very, very cool lyrics.
3) The whole song is one big fat blast beat. Sick. More breakdowns, and they’re so inspired.
4) Spiraling, twisting, turning riffs that pummel with the drums that never let go, and then whole song is just so cool and unrelenting. The breakdown at about –1:00 is something that must be experienced in a pit.
5) More of a hardcore feel to the song, and the lyrics reflect that with an inspiring outlook on life. I dig.
6) Holy shit! This is less than 2:30 long, but that’s fine ‘cause it’ll leave you feeling like you’ve had your head crushed against a wall. Brutal, nasty, and really driving breakdown.
7) Another short song, but really good still, this one takes a more down-tempo route and builds on an excellent groove.
8) Picks up where the last song left off, and it has an amazing riff. The double bass work on this is out of this world.
9) More groove to start things off, and then breakdowns to keep them going, short but oh so sweet.
10) Similar to the one before it, but with more variations, this is quite the closer.