Article By: Pat ‘Riot’ Whitaker ‡ Edited By: Leanne Ridgeway
The global-wide metal underground is an intriguing place, to say the least. It is a place that exists with duality or purpose in many cases, at any given time. For some, it can be both a treasure trove of undiscovered riches yet for others, it is a musty graveyard where many bands go to die. The point I’m trying to make is this: that you must tread carefully within its confines and exercise a discerning sensibility when you do such.
Thankfully, today’s discovery lands firmly within our grasp as a metallic treasure, my friends. That wealth comes in the form of the just-released genre-smashing album ‘Pariah‘ from Misconducters. Some of you may already be familiar with the band but to be honest, I only recently discovered them myself despite the fact that this is their fifth full-length record.
Originally birthed in the U.K. circa 2008, Misconducters are primarily the vehicular brainchild of the band’s founder, Den. After years of writing songs, collaborating with fellow musicians, and the such, he relocated to his homeland of Brazil and went to work on writing and recording ‘Pariah‘. Now that the album is out, what we have is a real, truly bona fide trend-bucking collection of kick-ass music.
Misconducters do not conform to any preconceived notions when it comes to music, they’re as comfortable wrenching out a blistering slice of speed metal fury as they are belting out some crustened punk. They see your pigeonholing ploys and linear labeling lines and they amusingly piss on them and grin.
See, that is the key to this 8-track treasure chest, a blatant disregard for staying-inside-the-lines safety. From the punk rock-fused funk and thrash of a song like “Skyline” or the semi-maniacal melodic metal of “Battlefield“, there are unexpected twists and turns lurking behind every note. In fact, it is Misconducters type music that the term “crossover” was surely coined for describing.
There is just so much to experience here, all of which is crackling with electrified energy and angst, then channeled for maximum effectiveness. From the fantastic title track “Pariah” to the sludgy blues of “Pace Of Life“, body blow after body blow of heavy metal mangles you with zeal. Then there is one of my favorite tracks, the incendiary strike of “Born Down South“, a fast-paced fret boogie of swaggering guitar and devil-may-care attitude. Check out its’ lyric video below.
So there you have it! Misconducters ‘Pariah‘ is a gritty, rough-around-the-edges slugfest of sonic hard knocks. The Digital version is available now as is the CD format (that dropped today, October 31st) at this location.
