Review: Misery Signals – Controller

Wisconsin’s own are back with a punishing new album with a few new tricks.  With their last album,  Mirrors, it may have been easier to lump these guys into the pack of mediocre metal-core acts like I Killed the Prom Queen, It Dies Today, Dead to Fall and others.  But with Controller, released on July 22nd, it might not be that easy. 

Even with Mirrors you could tell there was something different about these guys, complex breakdowns, intricate chords and melodies as well neck-breaking time-signatures and tempo changes.  One of the more telling aspects was that they used next to no clean vocals at all.  They were going to beat you into submission opposed to bribing you with fancy hooks.  But it wasn’t enough to make you really consider them as anything more than slightly unique.

On Controller, Misery Signals steps up to establish themselves as outside of the dying metal-core genre.  I’ll get this out of the way first, yes there are breakdowns, no they’re not standard, no there aren’t that many of them and yes they will melt your face off.  This is Karl’s second endeavour with the band and he’s traded in his hard-core tendencies for something more brutish and intimidating, his vocals are more beast than man.  Tonally he still treads on familiar ground, still kind of atonal, no real highs or deep lows.  What he lacks in diversity he makes up in sheer force, this time around you can understand what he’s saying.  In term’s of song-writing these guys have stepped it up and will have a better time catching the attention of the metal crowd.  Heavy parts are more heavy, played faster which is easy with a drummer Brendan Morgan, definitely more extreme than Mirrors.  This album really shines in it’s quite moments though, catering to the post-hardcore crowd.  The melodic breaks are more lush and  with the band introducing more pronounced clean vocals, spacey guitar work and even a synth here and there.  With the dichotomy between their trademarks, Misery Signals doesn’t leave any middle ground for the listener, either you won’t like it or you’re in it until it’s over.

Controller has room for improvement, but this is the case for most young bands.  These guys are still really young and are already being noticed for their talents, their uniqueness and their crazy live show.  Controller is a pleasure to listen too and is a good start for a late in the summer release year.

~ by theroan on July 23, 2008.