Review: “Living Death” EP by Miscreant

Before signing to Stay Sick Recordings and releasing their current EP “Dancing With Fear“, you have to go back to May 2016 to find the debut EP from Nottingham residents Miscreant. The Nu-Metalcore quartet got a trio of interesting names on board for their debut, which was co-written, engineered and produced by George Christie, mixed and mastered by Harmed Guitarist Gabor Toth and got Justin Johnson to guest on “Bitter Regrets“. Now it’s not labelled anywhere so we asked Miscreant themselves and they confirmed that George Christie is the Shields guitarist who sadly took his own life on 31st January 2018 and Justin Johnson is the frontman of Detroit Nu-Deathcore act Gift Giver…

The eerie atmospheric at the start of “Desolation” sounds like an SOS sounding out in Morse Code from a derelict space craft floating slowly across the outer rim before bursting into the full throttle riff attack that sits somewhere between Metalcore and Melodic Deathcore with hints at Tech-Metal riffs underpinning everything. There is even some buried electronics programmed in that nuances out of the mix after several repeated listens. A mid section breakdown adds the mosh heavy element while its follow up dark groove and harsh spoken word takes influence from pre-“White Devil” era Gift Giver. The end of “Desolation” interweaves into the start of “Nightmares” with a similar haunt and flow, it’s introspective lyrics about struggles with anxiety are as loathing as them come and offer catharsis in a blood letting way. A hammer blow of a track that features a huge blast beat section as it closes out with some solid Gloom riffs and evil programming, it’s a head trip.

“Bitter Regrets” sees the aforementioned guest vocal appearance from Justin Johnson and is front loaded with an ocean of bounce before some icy synths slow things down for a momentary break. Shaking things up with some warped sounds and off kilter riffs with little breaks, it follows no song structure, instead going straight for the jugular and not letting go. Going all out DJent with the guitar attack “The Family Ruin” is all about that bounce and drive which flows through it like a rapid running river to the sea. It could be an After The Burial track, that’s how good it is. As with elsewhere on “Living Death“, the electronics create a horror film soundscape in the background that the guitars smash through with regular chugging punches of riffs. Anyone who is familiar with the EP will know that “Let Tomorrow Die” isn’t on it, it was released as a standalone single in 2017, but we figured we’d take a moment to talk about it here. Another DJent heavy cut with Tech-Metal poly rhythmic patterns that are at times off kilter, it’s warped sense of self destruct as brutally good as the sense of nausea it could provoke in the unsuspecting individual. While the screams of “I AM HELL” roar out towards the end, you’ll find yourself wondering as we did, why we hadn’t heard this before [7.5/10]

Track listing

1. Desolation
2. Nightmares
3. Bitter Regrets (ft. Justin Johnson of Gift Giver)
4. The Family Ruin
5. Let Tomorrow Die

“Living Death” by Miscreant has been out since 2016! It’s available over at bandcamp