Believe it or not, the entire shipment of At The Gates' "Slaughter Of The Soul" album did not wind up solely in Massachusetts. As Misery Speaks prove here, some also arrived in Germany. Once again a band has filtered down the fundamentals of Swedish melodic death metal and poured it into a rigid metalcore frame, and once again the results are generally the same.

A churning riff-fest, the band's accomplished musicianship sees a wealth of treble-laden shredding, screamed raspy vocals and a jarringly precise rhythm section led by some incredibly solid double-kick drumming. Elements of melody and thrash do make some cameo appearances throughout the course of the record, but make no mistake, the groups ever-present metalcore and death metal influences take top billing here.

Clearly Misery Speaks have talent and they show it frequently as the discs feverish, and often unrelenting, momentum rarely subsides. The problem that arises though is that as great of musicians as they are, their songwriting is limited. This flaw isn't really shown by the band themselves though, but by their peers in groups like Unearth, As I Lay Dying and Arch Enemy; all of whom have practically written this same record, and took more chances while doing so.