The day I heard this band for the first time, I sensed an authentic yet latent- rage, aggression and destruction in the days to come, if this band exists! Six years ago Kevin Tailey (ex-Dying Fetus/Chimaira, founding member Misery Index, no more with the band now) would have never thought that Traitors’ ,a release 6 years down the line(minus himself) would have a perfect homogeneity of the words mentioned in line one and along with a uniquely redesigned genre called hardcore death/grind.
‘Traitors’ possesses an ability of intensity to de-grease your earwax to an oily residue. Where it typically scores over ‘Retaliate’ & ‘Discordia’ (the previous 2 albums) is the jump out of the seat feel it provides throughout its 37 mins running. It’s such a total effort due to its razor sharp production, lethal to the core-riff chunk and a tone that’s so modern and so down-tuned. On the album, the flash points of death metal fixtures are guitars-like wolves pouncing over you and at the same time the majestic leopard walk of hardcore structure.Thats truly a master craft!
Jason Nethertonon’s vocals are rich & croaky enough to spread the fuel for hatred and lift the dampening spirits of anyone on his/her deathbed. It works so well for misery index (because that’s what most hardcore bands aspire to do and few deliver that way).I shall take you through description of songs that catch my fancy. Starting off from track 2 ‘Theorocracy’ it gets all admiration by offering a thump and resilience to centering death metal along with lightening lead playing and slam drumming. Subsequent track ‘Partisans of grief’ stands on the shores of The Haunted, Immolation and Napalm death all 3 bands having a clear reflection on the on-catchy, dark/groovy & yet such a basic creation. Moving on. I just love the title track for its chorus ‘Traitors!!!!..’And when Jason passes off the riffs the effect becomes lasting & worth remembering. Next one is ‘Ghost of Catalonia ‘It has a spread of evil touch through its running, the riffs are directed from the spell of the devil, and suffering becomes stronger when the slow moving riffs poison out the juice of the wicked On the other hand the neck movement capabilities of the listener are judged best on ‘Occupation’ (track 6) and ‘The arbiter’ (track 8), both remaining bangers delight. .The kill of ‘Nile’ is best caught on ‘Ruling class cancelled’, which has an amazing display of 225 bpm-150 bmp-225bpm variation by ‘Adam Jones'(drums).Fans of Jones can excuse me for saying -Roaddy/Kollias-still miles ahead, this song is so chaotic and yet so resonant and powerful.(typical misery index).
Track 10 ‘Thrown in the sun’ is my personal favorite because of the gear shift it offers, for a minute you feel you are listening to a black metallish ‘Dolorian’ intro with pinches towards a ‘Nile’ signature tones (as in the groovial ones),at the mid-section it becomes obituarish and then slayerish at the end .And all this is enough to re-write your end! This song holds it all-Misery Index.
Conclusion,’ Traitors’ is full-high-definition-rampant-climbing hardcore death metal outflow. Utilize some space on the CD rack.