MISERY INDEX

Misery Index, a ferocious American death metal unit that folds grindcore and punk into its crushing sound, draws its name from the economic gauge tracking ordinary citizens’ hardship against adjusted jobless rates. The title also belonged to the closing album by Florida deathgrind act Assück, whose sonic brutality helped shape the band’s unyielding approach. After issuing their Nuclear Blast debut Retaliate in 2003, the group followed with the acclaimed full-lengths Traitors in 2008, The Killing Gods in 2014, Rituals of Power in 2019, and Complete Control in 2022.

Jason Netherton on bass and vocals and drummer Kevin Talley, both formerly of the Maryland technical death metal and grindcore outfit Dying Fetus, formed the band in Baltimore in 2001 alongside guitarist and vocalist Mike Harrison. What began as a studio project soon moved to live stages. The self-released EP Overthrow appeared that same year, and another Dying Fetus alumnus, guitarist Sparky Voyles, joined for a 2002 split with Commit Suicide. Heavy touring attracted Nuclear Blast, which put out Retaliate the next year.

A revised lineup of Netherton, Voyles, vocalist and guitarist Mark Kloeppel, and drummer Adam Jarvis signed with Relapse Records in 2005, yielding Discordia in 2006. Kurt Ballou produced the 2008 album Traitors, one of the band’s strongest critical and fan successes, while 2010’s Heirs to Thievery earned them headlining dates across the U.S. and overseas. Voyles exited after that record, making way for lead guitarist Darin Morris, who debuted on the 2014 release The Killing Gods, the first Misery Index album for Season of Mist. Their sixth studio effort, Rituals of Power, surfaced in spring 2019. Century Media became the new home ahead of the seventh album, the taut and ferocious Complete Control, issued in 2022.