Interview

Misery Index On "Rituals Of Power" And More

While it's only February, Europe has already been treated to one of the most stellar tour packages to come about in some time. Grindcore icons Napalm Death have been storming through Europe, with a new single, "Logic Ravaged by Brute Force" available, and the long awaited album, "Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism" along the way but they've brought together some of the most powerful names in extremity; Eyehategod, Misery Index, Rotten Sound and Bat, to help them crush everything in their path.

At the recent show in Leeds, Yorkshire, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Misery Index vocalists (and bassist & guitarist respectively,) Jason Netherton and Mark Kloeppel to discuss the tour, the band's latest album, "Rituals Of Power," their upcoming twentieth anniversary and Impractical Jokers. You can watch the interview in full below.

Diamond Oz: It's a really impressive tour package you're part of, with Napalm Death, Eyehategod, Rotten Sound and Bat. How did this come about?

Mark Kloeppel: We're all old friends really. Ryan from Bat is also in Municipal Waste and we played one of their record release shows way back in the day. We've known Shane from Napalm for a long time and the Rotten Sound boys, the Eyehategod guys, we've toured with them. So it's just a bunch of buddies. Shame was really responsible for selecting the package.

Jason Netherton: Yeah, it's also an easy package to put together. I think we're all with the same booking agent.

Mark: We did this whole thing, without Rotten Sound, in Japan and I think Shane just wanted to keep it going throughout the world.

Oz: And how long as the tour been going thus far?

Mark: A few weeks.

Jason: Today's the half way point actually.

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Interview

Interview With Mark Kloeppel Of Misery Index

A personal confession: When "The Killing Gods," the fifth studio album from Baltimore, Maryland's Misery Index, was presented to me, I hadn't listened to more than a handful of the band's songs since 2003.

Stuck in my memory vault from that time were the brash, abrasive, punk-influenced deathgrind strains of yore - a style that, in my experience, has produced some notable hits and many more forgettable misses. But my reservations proved unfounded.

Over the past eleven years, Misery Index has evolved into a lean, fearsome, consummate death metal machine. Far from a simple, numbing blast beat extravaganza, "The Killing Gods" is a pure riff factory laden with groove, thrash, and teasingly melodic elements that represent the ultimate melting pot of influences and personalities.

At the forefront of this evolution is, and has been, guitarist Mark Kloeppel, who joined Misery Index in 2005 from a decidedly different geographic and musical background. His creative path, in convergence with his bandmates', led directly to what now may be a strong contender for 2014's "best-of" lists.

Mark recently made himself available for some questions over the phone. Here's what happened. More...

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