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The New Low

Misery

Written by: PP on 19/08/2012 03:20:22

The sophomore album "Misery" by metalcore/hardcore hybrid The New Low sees the band continue to improve as songwriters from the monotone mess that used to be their original band Foot To Face back in the day. Their debut album "Fall Empire" already displayed nuances of melody incorporated into their sound that helped their songs immensely, and that development continues on "Misery" to the effect that the band are now officially adding in good amounts of melody in pretty much every song.

Fans of their more thrashy, breakneck speed mosh-metalcore need not be afraid though, as the band's trademark is still the harrowing howls and screams of their vocalist Christian that convince you that a head-first encounter with a giant cheese grater is perhaps appealing as an option. But throughout "Misery", he is supplemented by excellent guitars that not only contain groove and subtle pieces of melody to them, but are also finally distinguishable from one another and have taken a note or two off the Converge playbook for inspiration. The opening title track, for instance, contains hands down the best riff The New Low have written during their career. It's an aggressively scaling one that recalls "Dark Horse" from the aforementioned band, a hostile onslaught of melody on top of brutality that should alone elevate The New Low's status within the Danish metal scene to new heights.

I cannot stress it enough: The New Low have improved on the riff department in leaps and bounds so that the somewhat hollow and harsh screams (a matter of taste, though) no longer hinder their sound in as great extent as on their debut album. The songs are better (they even bring in clean vocals in places), the band plays with reinvigorated energy, and generally with a more menacing stance than most of their Danish contemporaries. And though they still sound a great deal like a crossover between As We Fight and Pilgrimz, at this point in time with "Misery", The New Low have already released an album better than any record by either of those bands.

Download: Misery, Drown, Going Nowhere
For the fans of: As We Fight, Pilgrimz, Converge
Listen: Facebook

Release date 06.02.2012
Schizophrenic Inc