Misery Loves Co.'s brooding mixture of electronic goth metal is a bitter pill to swallow. Filled with growling riffs, eerie ambiance and disheartened vocals, the group sets a gloomy tone as their sinister musical creation oozes throughout the speakers. Somewhat sluggish, the band brings to mind a mix of 16volt, Orgy, Type O Negative and The Cure, who's track "The Drowning Man" is also satisfyingly covered on this release.
The albums vocals snarl with fierceness as bleak lyrics are methodically spun like the web from a spider. Slightly raspy, their tonal range stays near the middle as notes are hit with a passion and angst that highlight an inner torment eating away the insides of band frontman Patrik Wiren. Guitars are edgy and have a modern flair as chunky riffs, thick with distortion provide well placed song progression and blossom into roomy open chords. An interesting quality of the band is that while most bands have the guitars lead the songs forward, the guitar work included here seemingly devotes itself to creating a moody build up that gives the songs an epic range, rather than blaze a trail. There's a moderate downtuning in place bass wise and the notes hit have an educated growl, but are for the most part not very diverse. This is probably due to the fact that bandmember Örjan takes the helms of the bass, guitar and programming elements of the music and as such the stringed section of the group each follow a similar path. Drums are assuredly hit with a light downtuning and utilize inherently offbeat timed hits to create an almost convulsing percussive experience. But although there is a lot of variation and experimentation thrown into the mixture here, there is also a sharply focused playing style that kicks in to take the songs to the next level of progression. Programming included in the songs here is entertaining and is rarely intrusive as it paints a dense swirling array of buzzing sounds that supply texture and give the band a multi-dimensional depth.
Overtly dark and yet still upbeat enough to convey anger and hurt, the groups music is somewhat of an anomaly in the world of heavier music today. Where most acts become so embroiled in self pity that they lose all focus on the song or slow things down to a snails pace, this act manages to keep everything moving at a lumbering, brooding speed and hit their point dead on with acidic intensity. It's hard not be drawn in by the sheer volume of sounds incorporated into the groups craft and its definitely impressive to see such an organic feeling within the multitude of electronic sounds assembled in a decidedly subtle nature. Perhaps the only negative factors of the material included on this disc are that a few of the songs sound somewhat contrived at times and overall rarely differentiate from the other. But while most bands are still trying to figure out how to operate technology, Misery Loves Co. have intelligently taken sampling and programming to a highly effective new plateau and although the band has sadly now parted ways, their name will live on as no doubt many listeners will be miserable that they won't see where the follow-up to this enjoyable effort would have taken them.
(4 / 5)
