Misantropic
Insomnia
Halvfabrikat
You know the score with the type of music that Sweden's Misantropic play; the crusty punkthrash that's rapidly becoming more and more popular to the point of oversaturation. Plenty of choice is, of course, a good thing, but that also means that there's an awful lot of crap to trudge through in order to find that elusive golden nugget. The problem with abundance in the genre in which Misantropic reside, is that it's a form of music that doesn't lend itself to much deviance from its foundations. In that case, much like the melodic death metal of Göteborg, we find a genre with countless bands that all sound the same. One might say that the inclusion of a female vocalist in itself serves to set Misantropic apart from most of the other bands, and it does to an extent, but unless you're aware of the fact that it's a girl on vocals you might simply assume it's a weak male vocalist at the helm. Musically, it's all above average stuff, but not to the point where "Insomnia" is something you'll be busting to tell people about. Rather, this is a decent listen with some interesting moments. It's like Rotten Sound meets Waklevören in places, only an incredibly weaker version of both that gets tired quite quickly. Next time I give this a spin will probably be in a couple of years when I'm stuck for something to listen to and can't quite remember what this Misantropic album sounded like when I last heard it.
- John Norby
