By: Tordah

Posted: Feb 27, 2006

Misery Inc. is a fairly new band in the constantly growing Finnish metal scene. "Yesterday's Grave" was a pretty good debut album that could be described as a more melodic version of Sentenced. Catchy songs accompanied by a strong touch of melancholy was the key formula for the debut and these elements are still present on the new album as well. However, that is not the only thing that "Random End" offers. The band has added a lot of new elements such as growled vocals, thrashy guitar-work and a good dose of aggression to their sound. Misery Inc. have developed an original sound and grown a lot as a band since "Yesterday's Grave" came out.

The first new thing you'll notice if you are familiar with the debut is that the band now have two new vocalists. Niko Mankinen, who does the clean vocals and most of the vocal-lines and Juha Nähäri, who handles all the growling vocals and backing vocals. Having two different vocalists give the band the option to create some interesting vocal-passages and Misery Inc. have put that option to good use. Mankinen has a good and powerful voice that is perfect for this band and Nähäri's death growls add an aggressive edge to the music. The symbiosis between these two is excellent and one of the strongest sides of the album.

The guitar-work is awesome and there are plenty of good and hard-hitting riffs in every song. Sometimes highly melodic but always with a crunchy and thrashy feel to them. The bass and drum-work is solid and serves as a heavy and strong rhythm section backed up by the powerful and warm production. The most important thing is of course how well the songs are composed and executed. Misery Inc. have done a very impressive job and leaves no feeling that there is something missing. Even though the songs are all around the 3-4 min mark it never get boring or repetitive. There are always some parts in the songs that grabs you and makes you remember them long after you've stopped listening. For example the song 'Greed Rules The World' kicks of with a really aggressive lead-in with both vocalists shouting the chorus over a killer riff before going into a really cool verse which alternates between the two vocalists. Most of the choruses are very memorable and puts many power metal bands to shame when it comes to terms of catchiness.

I was blown away when I first listened through the 11 songs on "Random End". If the band were to release a single from this album they could seriously just choose a random song. The material is that strong and it easily crushes everything from "Yesterday's Grave" with the exception of 'Suicide Serenade' and 'Through The Dark'. "Random End" is a prime example of how to write killer metal songs and just kick ass. The band have a fresh and modern sound that is both catchy and energetic. I hope the band gets the attention they deserve after this release and that they can keep up the good work with the next offering. This is one of the best 2006 releases thus far and shouldn't be missed by any metal-fan. It doesn't get much better than this.

Rating: 9½/10

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