Two years after an already convincing debut, This Is Hell returns in 2008 with Misfortunes, a record that refines and hardens the formula. Where Sundowning struck through its raw fire, this one gains in density, darkness and precision. The New York band disowns none of its hardcore energy, but now sets it within more crafted writing, where the metallic influence grows more present. The result is a darker, more mature album, confirming the band was no flash in the pan and fully intends to dig its furrow with obstinacy.
Darker, denser
Misfortunes owns a heavier atmosphere than its elder. The riffs are thicker, the tempos more varied, and the band allows itself more nuance in its aggression. That step up in density comes at no cost to the impact: the songs still hit as hard, but with a new depth. You sense a band grown in assurance, with better command of its dynamics, now able to alternate frontal charges and heavier passages to maximize tension. The broader production perfectly showcases that evolution.
The metal rising
It is on Misfortunes that the metallic influence really begins to assert itself. The guitars gain in bite, the structures grow more complex, and you hear the band’s taste for a more technical aggression start to emerge. This Is Hell stays rooted in hardcore, but begins to push its boundaries, laying the ground for the more metal records that would follow. That hybridization, still measured here, gives the record an added richness without ever betraying the urgency that is the band’s identity.
The confirmation
Misfortunes is the record that turns a promise into a certainty. This Is Hell proves it can evolve without disowning itself, deepen its formula without losing its essence. More accomplished than the debut, more varied too, it testifies to a band in full progression, sure of its means and determined not to settle for repeating what worked. That ability to grow while staying true to itself is the mark of outfits that last.
Misfortunes is a solid, ambitious second album that consolidates This Is Hell’s place in the metallic hardcore landscape. Darker, denser and more mature than its predecessor, it already heralds the evolutions to come while delivering its share of formidable songs. For the band’s fans and the curious alike, it is an essential stage, proof that This Is Hell could move forward without ever losing sight of what made its strength: intensity, sincerity and a taste for the blow that hurts.
