Review Summary: "Mirrors" is full of musical beauty, darkness, but most importantly, interest-holding variety which makes it a worthy, standalone album rather than a companion piece to their last, and this factor may make it their best effort to date.
Coming off of the reigns on fire from their previous release, "Of Malice and the Magnum Heart", which garnered much critical acclaim and album of the year status from several publications, it was very questionable which direction the band might take next. They had lost their front man Jesse Zaraska, who brought a lot to the table in an emotional sense with his raw, honest lyrics, and the band decided to have a vocal competition online where you could send in voice overs of your own to various Misery Signals songs. The honor went to a long time fan of the band, Karl Schubach.
It's difficult to categorize this band precisely because of the wide variance of elements that are evident in their songs. They aren't full-on metalcore, nor are they pure hardcore, but something in between. "Progressive" would be a good word for them, and it isn't spelled out better than on their sophomore album, "Mirrors".
Upon listening to the first song, you'll immediately notice not only what a towering presence Karl brings with his throaty, rugged scream, but also a difference in production. To be honest, at first I didn't feel this craggy, Slipknot-esque type of recording would fit a band who isn't really super heavy and brutal, but after a while I came to appreciate the different canvas a band like this had gotten to paint itself on. "Face Yourself" will mostly kick your ass, with some of the heaviest songwriting ever in the history of the band. The guitars are screamy, but the beginning is very reminiscent of "The Great Southern Trendkill". The song is structured with extremely pummeling verses, darkly pretty choruses, and a highly melodic interlude that expresses why Stu and Ryan belong together in a band.
Seriously, the synergy between these two is extraordinary, and it's too bad we won't hear anything more from them together as Stu has left the band as of 2010 to play in "Living With Lions" and now "Comeback Kid". Examples in this album where their symbiotic relationship hits an all-time high are in "One Day I'll Stay Home" (which includes a well-placed and interesting vocal cameo from Fallout Boy's Pat Stump), "Sword of Eyes", which is perhaps the most emotionally powerful song on the record, and "Mirrors", the final and longest track on the album clocking in at just over 7 minutes.
This album is their heaviest album and also their most melodic. It doesn't exude the intense power that "Of Malice...." had, but the contrast between light and dark on this album including the ominous atmospherics on songs like "Something Was Always Missing But It Was Never You" and "Butcher" are the elements that lets this album stand on it's own two feet, and not try overly hard to put out a "better" record than their previous effort. Instead, very smartly, they changed up their game on this one and did quite a bit of experimentation.
This album is incredibly dynamic, always keeping it interesting and trying new things, and the emotional power is out of this world. Many fans didn't enjoy the experimental properties on this album and more progressive style of song writing as compared to what they had put out before that had made them key figures in the metal/hardcore genre, but I certainly enjoy the versatility hear. I enjoyed the somewhat slower pacing and the still extremely relevant odd time signatures that can fly off the handle and go in a direction your brain can't even compute before returning back to the linear architecture of the song almost effortlessly.
As far as musicianship goes, the band has actually shown improvement. They provided us with a new album with high expectations riding off of "Malice" and succeeded by actually changing their sound up a bit. The drumming is so unbelievably precise you'd think you were hearing synth. The guitars are usually playing at different tones, the backing playing a lower, emo-punky piece while the lead giving us bright, highly melodic and atmospheric sound (just listen to the beginning of "Something Was Always Missing But it Was Never You" when it kicks in to heavy mode or the last minute of "Migrate").
I really enjoyed the way this record turned out, even with the at first off-putting production values of it, which I would say is really the only big downside. As far as repetition, the band does a superb job of keeping it interesting at all times, changing up songs in a sensical way, just as they did in "Of Malice And The Magum Heart". Karl's vocals are downright brutal-sounding, with decent enough lyrics that don't become over-poetic for the sake of being poetic, though I would prefer Jesse's almost whispery screaming and scathingly honest lyrics, but Karl did a commendable job for a guy whom had never been a vocalist in his life to being in one of the most prominent hardcore bands of all time over night. The lyrics are honest and up front, just as the music continues to be.
It seems that after this release, the band's fan base decreased. Maybe I'm wrong, but seeing them live felt a bit different than it had prior. The reviews were generally favorable, but more mixed than the last record. But, because of the small venues they began playing at, I got to see them play at a firehall at ground level 2 feet away from Ryan Morgan, and that was probably the best show I'd ever been to in my 30-year life. There were only about 50 kids, and Misery Signals still delivered and played their hearts out. This is why they are still around.
They are arguably one of the hardest working bands in the industry, touring relentlessly all year 'round every year, and are extremely passionate about giving their fans what they want, while improving as musicians all the while, as each successive record shows.
