Looking back, I was pretty harsh on 2010's Traitors, and it seems we've gotten something of a reputation for not dealing with Misery Index fairly. Well, let me say this – although The Killing Gods isn't the best death/grind album out this year by any means, it's a hell of a lot better than my past attempts at indexing misery would have led me to expect. The mixture of death metal and grindcore is always a good, solid one, easy to create decent metal from, and Misery Index have pulled out the stops to make The Killing Gods an exciting, passionate album, making songs interesting to listen to and hook-filled without toning down the essential hardcore energy that lies at their foundation.

Intro Urfaust leads quickly into the initially fairly typical The Calling, full of stop-start crunching riffs but moving into nicely atmospheric groove towards the end, some widdly soloing and a very brief melodic break working wonders. The variety that follows is quite surprising. After brief atmospheric interlude The Oath (only the third track in, remember) strums its ominous way through a minute with eerie bird calls, Conjuring the Cull stomps in, a decent mixture of riffs making their presence known and far from just the usual sped-up hardcore chugs. And the seamless flow into The Harrowing's widdly opening is excellent – Misery Index have become excellent at keeping the energy flowing, something vital for this genre. The rhythmic pounding of Cross to Bear and groovy destruction of Gallows Humour make for a nice mid-album one-two, adding little elements like the latter's thrash leanings and mini-bass solo to keep the attention of the easily distracted – it's like they wrote the album just for me!

Even when stretching the formula out, as on the five-minute plus title track, the band work wonders, opening with monk chants and building in a manner that we've heard often from Behemoth lately but wouldn't expect from Misery Index. The track gets more and more unhinged, vocalist Jason Netherton's bark becoming more rabid, and the breakdown towards the end is an absolute explosion – it all flies by and those five minutes never drag. You can find nits to pick, of course – the production isn't anything special, pushing guitars and vocals up front, muffling drums and making bass barely audible. And some of the tracks are less killer than others – The Weakener feels like rather stock post-Dying Fetus deathcore, for example. Still, it's in a distinct minority, and doesn't particularly trouble the album's flow, the following likes of Colony Collapse making up for it with vicious enthusiasm. And the closing killer mini-cover of Ministry's Thieves and New World Order (imaginatively called Thieves of the New World Order) simply rips. When Misery Index get it right, they get it really, really right, and The Killing Gods is the strongest album I've heard from them. Enjoy that 80, boys, you've earned it.