Band:	Miseria
Album:	Silence Within
Style:	Gothic metal, Heavy metal
Release date:	June 2004

01. Silence Within
02. Whispering Cry
03. Myself To Steal
04. Soulbound
05. Into Despair
06. Whispering Cry [growl version]

Hey, Miseria is back! Last year these rather young Finns did an everlasting impression on me, and from while to while I listen their demo "Night Of Fetus" really good stuff.
Now I have their latest work, a Mcd called "Silence Within", and I can tell you that some things have changed, first now they're 2 guys and 3 girls, last time they were almost an all-girl band, but luckily for me Virpi Loukkola still handles the vocal duties, and let me tell you that her voice is one of the best assets of the band.

Also the band has improved the presentation a lot, this time the cover art that graces the front of the demo is quite good I must say, sadly this only comes with front cover and no jacket, but is comprehensible with the short budgets these bands have.

Another thing different is the vocals, now they're handled 50/50 between Virpi and her male counterpart Joni Kantoniemi, yes, that means that every song is a duet.
Musically the album follows the same direction than before, but the sound is more cohesive, their mix of Heavy Metal with Gothic overtones still works just as well as it did in their prior work, but the music has lost some of it's catchiness.

"Silence Within" opens the album with some growls, then Virpi enters with her beautiful voice, the duet soon sets in, and the first thing I feel is a consistent keyboard use, maybe a little reminiscent of their compatriots Nightwish, but still great. "Whispering Cry" is another good song, but now I feel more they're more evolved, and moved a bit forward on their sound, and I don't know if I like it as much as before.

Definitively my favorite song in the Mcd is "Myself To Steal", a great song full of catchy moments and great hooks, truly a winner here. "Soulbound" and "Into Despair" follow the same line than the other songs, catchy songs done in duet, luckily, male vocalist Joni is quite good. As a bonus track, the sixth song is "Whispering Cry" done entirely with Death Metal vocals.

Another good effort by Miseria, personally I preferred their prior work, but that's me, because besides my personal preferences I know to recognize talent when I hear it, and these guys have it, and I know for sure that next time I hear something from these guys is going to be in a proper full length Cd with a juicy record contract behind, and of course, a thank you note for me in the booklet.