June 1, 2004 - Misery Signals and Of Malice And The Magnum Heart

A week after my last release a new band joins my library when Misery Signals released their debut album "Of Malice And The Magnum Heart" on June 1, 2004. But who is Misery Signals? They are a five-piece with both Canadian and American members, but formed in Wisconsin and are one of the first bands to play progressive metalcore! They consist of lead singer Jesse Zaraska, lead guitarist Ryan Morgan and his brother, drummer Branden Morgan, rhythm guitarist Stuart Ross and bassist Kyle Johnson. Misery Signals combine the heaviness of metalcore with the smooth segues and longer songs of prog and given that, who better to produce them than Devin Townsend! I can't wait to hear what these guys sound like, let's dive in! 

The album kicks off with a short intro track called "A Victim, A Target" and it's got some fairly basic guitars keeping the pace while Branden plays a cool drum beat in the background. Zaraska comes in and shows us his epic screaming style that isn't exactly low or high, but it's very clear and yet still very heavy. Ryan joins in at the same time with some heavier and cool lead guitar and even in this song under two minutes they manage to show off a bit of progressiveness as they nicely make their way through. The end leads right into the next song "In Response To Stars" and they quickly jump into a heavy main riff with some cool guitars (lead and rhythm) and Zaraska sounding pretty epic overtop. The bass and drums are fast and tight and sounding solid as well and everything sounds very smooth and well-produced (thanks Heavy Devy!) Zaraska holds one hell of a long, high scream at one point that sounds pretty awesome and they move smoothly into a very technical chorus that has all kinds of cool guitar and drums, and yet is somehow kinda catchy! This was a pretty awesome introduction into what Misery Signals are all about! Track 3 is "The Year Summer Ended In June" and they jump right into another hard-hitting main riff with Ryan leading the way with some more cool guitar, Zaraska sounding heavy and epic and Branden playing some more fast and tight drums as well! Words may be falling short already as these guys seem to carve out their template, but it's a pretty good template so far! They shift between several different riffs on this song and Words couldn't properly do justice to all of then, but things never seem like they aren't one cohesive unit as they very smoothly segue from section to section. There's some fantastic chugging guitars at times, a few great heavy breakdowns and even one super light break from things, which makes the slamming return sound even heavier! Another unique and pretty cool tune! The next track is "In Summary Of What I Am" and it's got the same style (or template) as the last two songs, but words fall short once again asI repeat that it's some more unique and interesting guitar by Ryan leading the way, some more great drums by Branden and everything Zaraska screams has the same epic tone. After two and a half minutes of heavy awesomeness they shift nicely to a quieter riff with some cool light rhythm guitar by Ross and some nice bass by Johnson as well. This part is cool as well and somehow it flows seamlessly back into the heavy earlier riff! These guys are smooth! Nothing even resembling a lesser song yet! Track 5 is "The Stinging Rain" and Morgan and Ross sync up for some loud, emphatic, and pretty damned impressive harmonized guitars! It's another hard-hitting and template-fitting song, but for Misery Signals that doesn't seem to be a bad thing at all! It follows the same pattern of being heavy for a couple minutes, segue to a lighter part for a little bit, then smoothly segue back into the heaviness. Ryan plays probably his best guitar so far with some great shredding behind Zaraska's screams and this song (and this band) seem to have their style absolutely and perfectly nailed down! The end of this song moves right into the instrumental track "Worlds & Dreams" and it starts off very space-y and slow (very atypical from what we've heard so far). It sounds like post-rock for over a minute in this out of place but not bad opening and they do a nice job of slowly building up to a really cool riff with Morgan and Ross both playing some pretty sweet light guitar. It's an expertly done song really and even in this way different style these guys are still super smooth and I really liked this short break from the headbanging. Track 7 is called "Murder" and they jump into another heavy main riff with some cool guitars and bass and Zaraska sounding solid screaming loudly overtop. They break things down very nicely in the slower but even heavier chorus and there's all kinds of good guitars going on throughout this one. Words continue to fall short as this is another template-fitting song, but that sounds like a disservice and this was another well-above-average tune! The next track is "On Account Of An Absence" and we fire right into a speedy main riff with both Morgan brothers playing some pretty cool guitar and drums respectively. Yes, it checks the boxes of the Misery Signals template, but I don't mind one bit when the bar is decently high. Zaraska does a couple fast talking parts that actually sound pretty decent and once again there is all kinds of great guitars throughout this whole song. Words don't do justice, you just gotta enjoy all this great metal! Track 9 is "Five Years" and I could describe it just like most of the songs on this album: cool lead guitar, solid rhythm guitar and bass, great drums, nice heavy screaming; it's just another unique and pretty sweet main riff! This song is just under six minutes with a few different sections to it but each transition is very smooth and each riff/verse/chorus is pretty sweet (as usual). It's solid thr whole way through! The last song on the album is "Difference Of Vengeance And Wrongs" and it stands out by NOT fitting the template! Branden drives things with a really cool drum beat and there's some soft but epic guitar overtop that is very atypical but the vibe is super epic and nicely done. Zaraska sings for the first time on the album and his singing voice is pretty average: not bad by any means but nothing special either. It fits the mood pretty nicely though and there's some pretty cool bass as well. After a couple minutes they ramp nicely and slam into a heavy new riff with some more typical guitars and screaming. After another epic round there's a fantastic breakdown that hits super hard and the mix of singing and screaming works pretty nicely. What seems like the grand finale sounds pretty epic and sweet, but there's an extra 30 seconds that fades us to finish and Devin Townsend chimes in with a bit of vocals in this extra bit! An interesting way to wrap things up for sure!

That is the end of "Of Malice And The Magnum Heart" and I thought it was a pretty awesome debut album by Misery Signals! These guys already sound like seasoned veterans and they are overflowing with some great metal music that is all very smooth. A lot of the songs may "sound the same", but it's a high bar these guys set with nothing even resembling a weak song. I can't wait to hear more from Misery Signals!