TMGWith a name like This Misery Garden you know you’re not in for a rib-tickling laugh-fest, but which particular area of musical misery do this Swiss Metal band occupy on their second release?

From the outset a heavy nod towards Katatonia is more than evident, with a healthy sprinkling of Tool and a little late 90’s My Dying Bride and Anathema on occasion. The 90’s influenced theme continues with the vocals that suitably echo the phrasings of Eddie Vedder and Chris Cornell in a style akin to maybe Chad Kroeger, Patrick Dubar (Mind Funk) and a more gravelly Jonas Renkse. All in all, the effect is something along the the lines of Audrey Horne – well executed, and with a dark smoothness and cohesive quality. Cornerstone has a very unified feel which most of the time works for the band, helping the songs to gel with each-other .Occasionally this limits the band meaning even if there is, for instance, an unexpected drumming time change, the down-tuned bass and guitars kind of cover it up. The vocals are usually in a similar smooth tone to the guitars too, so the only thing in the middle register is the odd guitar lead. The feeling is that you are never going to get anything too edgy or unexpected. Is that a good or bad thing? Depends on what you want from an album really.

TMG do mix the tempos up a little whilst always maintaining a steady heavy groove. ‘Holy Clutch’, ‘The First Man’ and ‘Crowded Hallway’ could be regarded as up-tempo within the confines of the album – which is when the band are at their most Audrey Horne – nicely balanced by the band’s Katatonia side on tracks like ‘The Rope’ and ‘Angry Child’. The great thing for me about this album comes from further plays – the switches in mood that TMG convey means subtle hooks and guitar melodies unveil themselves slowly and gradually. Each listen brings to light something new that was overlooked or missed on a previous visit, keeping Cornerstone fresh and interesting.

This Misery Garden are content and very competent at painting their nice mood-driven slabs of groove-laden gloominess…which is fine by me – long may they continue!

(7/10 – Andy Barker)

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