Review Summary: first signs of fatigue
If any one of your favourite artists told you they were going to release four albums in one year, you would probably be met with at least a little bit of apprehension. It’s not rocket surgery, ideas simply need time to marinate, and the quantity over quality approach doesn’t usually go over well (Lil B’s catalog comes to mind). Well, Mulherin’s first two projects of 2024 quickly set that apprehension at ease. Both
Dark Magic and
Hell Or Highwater were executed with a decent degree of polish, but moreover, they felt fully realized and had thematic clarity. When Mulherin announced his third album, I had no reason to expect anything less than another knock out, but alas, every boxer needs a minute to rest in the corner, and
miserymaker is just that.
miserymaker continues with the theme of shaking up the genre with each release, but instead of country, this time we find Mulherin playing around with much heavier and textured guitar tones ala Deftones (in case the font on the cover didn’t already give it away). These heavier tones combined with Mulherin’s emotional, hook-centric songwriting makes for some pretty satisfying results, but it also finds him staying well within his comfort zone, relying on old tricks instead of fully diving into these new sonic influences. The opening run of “DEAD2ME”, “RESURRECTION”, and “SOUTH BOSTON” is great, don’t get me wrong, but they also all feature the same type of big heartfelt choruses that just sound kind of like repurposed
VOID ETERNAL demos. This is Mulherin playing on easy mode, but hey, at least it’s still catchy.
Now, it wouldn’t be a nothing,nowhere. project without a bit of hip-hop injected into the formula. This fusion of rap and emo has been done tastefully by Mulherin before, but fifth track “WORTHLE$$” ends up feeling a bit jarring in juxtaposition to the preceding tracks, and it breaks up the record’s flow by slapping a dream-heavy chorus together with some of Joe’s most obnoxiously auto-tuned rap verses to date. Holy. Fortunately, “AURA” manages to hit the sweet spot between the two worlds by weaving pretty guitar notes into a sad trap beat, but then just like that, we hit a u-turn and haul ass back to emotown for the grande finale. “THE HEART MECHANIC” admittedly closes things out on a pretty high note with a midwest flavoured anthem, but then the album is just… over.
Seven tracks (six without the intro) in eighteen minutes smells a lot like an EP to me, but the brevity itself isn’t the issue, it’s the fact that such a small collection of songs still wound up feeling sadly disjointed and undercooked. For diehard Cult of the Reaper members,
miserymaker should still satisfy your fix and then some. I can see myself plucking at least a couple of these tracks for a playlist, but as a whole, the project feels a little rushed, and who can really blame the guy? Four albums in a year would strain anyone’s creative resources. It feels a little bit silly to sit here and critique someone whose creative work ethic is far greater than mine will ever be, but I just hope that his next and final album of the year goes out with a proper bang.
