Band:	Misery Index
Album:	Traitors
Style:	Deathgrind
Release date:	September 30, 2008
Guest review by:	Visioneerie

01. We Never Come In Peace
02. Theocracy
03. Partisans Of Grief
04. Traitors
05. Ghosts Of Catalonia
06. Occupation
07. Ruling Class Cancelled
08. The Arbiter
09. American Idolatry
10. Thrown Into The Sun
11. Black Sites

In the midst of the world's political powerhouse America, where corruption within the government is all too evident after the economic crisis in the third quarter of 2008, a group of anarchist naysayers enter the courtroom as plaintiffs to point fingers at their crumbling society. While public enterprises that were proudly standing tall one day to fall to the ground the next, the misery index has risen due to the increasing unemployment rate and the ever rising price of oil. The timing couldn't have been more appropriate for the angry death/grind quartet. The band's third full-length outlet Traitors is a punishing and heavy morally armed record that offers no compromise, condemning the world to some anger fueled catchy grindcore tinged death metal.

As the heavy weighted opener "We Never Come in Peace" barges into your sound system with juggernaut-like guitars slamming their way through the barricades with power chords and the drums pounding away with equal the amount of energy, society's punishment has only but begun as Mark Kloeppel screams into the microphone:

"In the true eyes of God, we will never be forgiven."

What is to follow are ten tracks of solid, raging and infectiously catchy music. Although the album falls into one conceptual dimension it being to offer the masses aggressive and groove fueled extreme metal, Misery Index increase the value of their effort by succeeding in exploring a healthily varied approach of their set objective. This means that Traitors will have you floored by the time the record reaches its end. The group can either choose to play through well balanced fast-paced death/grind with monumental tracks such as "Occupation" and "Black Sites" or they can resort to the ultra-violence and shoot you down with a three round burst semi-automatic machine gun with incendiary grindcore tracks like "Ruling Class Cancelled," "The Arbiter" and "American Idolatry" all consecutive to each other. That isn't the sum of it as Misery Index have proven with this album that they can set the tone for some seriously good, sinister and morose music with mid-paced punishers in "Ghosts Of Catalonia" and "Thrown Into The Sun."

With all this taken into account and how the band touches on topics such as the stubbornness of religion, the corruption of power (governments) and the ugly face of American society, Traitors is an extremely punishing and powerful record acting as a testimony to the faults of mankind. The anger is not only portrayed but felt through the raspy growls of frontman Mark Kroeppel alongside with the imposing heavy laden guitars and the never ceasing rhythmic assault that the drumming is.

Misery Index have entered the courtroom to stand as the plaintiffs to now find themselves at the front as the judge waving down the hammer making the judgment call. If you are looking for an adrenaline pumping experience look no further as Traitors will get that right eye of yours fidgeting and your arteries boiling. Who needs amphetamines anyways? Get this.