In 1998, after break-ups of the bands Clench (thrash) and Greyhate (hard rock), vocalist John Hermansen of Greyhate had nothing to do, and Thomas Piehl, Jens Wide and Orjan Baudin of Clench had the same problem, so they formed a band, first named Nosedive, now named Mother Misery. The Swedish fourpiece took a completely different turn music-wise, and now make a mix of Soundgarden, Monster Magnet and Mother Love Bone. Garden of the Mother Monster, if you will (I hereby copyright that bandname).

The opener ‘My Enemy’ is a good, basic, pacey song, with a positive vibe. ‘Breaking Free’ sounds truly like a song on Soundgarden’s Badmotorfinger, which means Mother Misery have proven they have a great singer. John Hermansen has a great voice. Clean, always in-tune and very diverse.
Song 3 marks a transition in the album. The slow, subtle intro of ‘Allright With Me’ is truly beautiful, all the parts fit together perfectly. Great song, yet, a minute too long. The next song starts off a bit crappy, with a somewhat uninspired riff. Luckily, as the song unfolds, new, good parts come in. The solo towards the end of the song is fantastic, yet when you hear the start of the song, you feel like switching it. By now, the Monster Magnet influence starts to show, without straying from the path taken at the start of the album.

‘Black Holes’ again, has a beautiful intro, great follow-up, diverse vocals and good, not too obvious lyrics. By now, you will have concluded these guys are truly talented. Then ‘It Comes Again’ is next. There is no question, this is one of the best songs of the year. Lyrically and instrumentally brilliant. Edging perfection.
Song 7 gives the album Grandiosity new life. Now, the energy is back. With ‘Payride’, ‘Dead End’ and ‘1000 Suns’ the Mother Love Bone factor comes in, blended greatly with the other influences. Now you start to think: ‘wow, this album just keeps getting better’. The album closer is less great than the songs 7 through 11, which proves they can make 11 great songs per album. Song four had a really bad part in it, and song 12 as well. So, deduct that from twelve songs and you’ll have 11. Do that on the next one.

On a more serious note: It is truly interesting to see what these guys will do on their second album. To see them develop their musical style and songwriting skills further and to see what they can do with a better production. With a deeper, thicker production, the harder parts would really kick in hard, and the slower parts would sound even better as well. A really, really bright future for these Danish guys (Danes?).