A mere taste of things to come
This split EP features three tracks each from Baltimore, Maryland, and Washington, DC’s (U.S.A.) Misery Index and Pittsburgh’s (Pennsylvania, U.S.A.) Commit Suicide. Misery Index have since undergone a line-up change with Mike Harrison (guitars, vocals) and Kevin Talley (drums) leaving the band to pursue other projects. They have remained a three piece after recruiting drummer Adam Jarvis (ex-Severed Head). The line-up remains the same for Commit Suicide. Each band offers up two originals and one cover song for this split EP.
The barrage begins with My Untold Apocalypse with it’s blast beats and riffs that blend the likes of Suffocation and Gorguts and any other early 90s classic death metal act you can think of. The vocals borrow from the John Tardy (Obituary) school of death metal vocals but without going over board which continues with the next track Alive? Misery Index’s chosen cover of Disrupt’s Reality Distortion powers along at a blinding pace.
Commit Suicide’s In All This Revelation begins almost like some of the grindcore era Napalm Death tracks with the simultaneous noise effects of bass and guitar on 11. The intent is there in both this track and the next, titled With Not Distaste, which is the stronger of the two originals on offer. But Commit Suicide don’t really pack the same punch as Misery Index do with the originals on this split effort. However, they win the covers battle with Death’s Open Casket as they’ve done an excellent version of this timeless classic.
If it were a battle of the bands, Misery Index would win hands down. But it’s not. It’s a teaser of what both are capable of. Not a bad way to sample a couple of death metal bands but it’s difficult to really get a grasp on the bands as a whole from a mere two tracks.
(Willowtip /Earache Records/Shock Distribution)
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