Misery Inc.
Yesterdays Grave

November 2004
Released: 2004, ZYX Music
Rating: 4.5/5
Reviewer: Waspman

Apparently I wasn’t the only one that was impressed with last year’s SUICIDE SERENADE debut E.P. by this young Finnish band as shortly before I reviewed it, ZYX Music snapped them up and has gone on to release this disc, Misery Inc.’s first full-length (in Europe only – dammit!). The band remains largely the same as before, the only new addition being drummer Joonas Kauppinnen.

It’s safe to say that YESTERDAY’S GRAVE picks up exactly where SUICIDE SERENADE left off, even including three songs from that disc (“Suicide Serenade”, “Darkness”, and “Life Ain’t Fair”). The band has not made any wholesale changes to their sound but have rather refined their already sharp melodic metal sound and made it heavier. The band also benefits from a much more robust production job that helps the songs breathe and really drives home the power of songs like “Darkest Night” (my fave on the disc).

As before, comparisons to Sentenced are inevitable with this band as their style and the vocals of Jukkis are dead ringers for their countrymen. To be sure, there are worse bands to be compared to but Misery Inc. may want to start broadening their horizons a little bit on future releases, lest they forever be categorized as also-rans. However, make no mistake as this is all top-flight material and an eminently enjoyable disc in its own right. Europeans – buy this now. The rest of us? Well, there are always mail order imports. Either way, give Misery Inc. your ears!