Track By Tracks: MISOPHONIA - (De)void Of Peace (2024)

1. Trial & Error:

Trial and Error is a track MisophoniA have been sitting with since the time of ye olde plague, thy disaster t'was covid-19' T&E was a track written by our lead guitarist Neil way back in 2019 possibly 2018, (a while anyway).

It was originally available on 2021's New Beginnings EP and was released during the covid Lockdown. At that time we were without the means to record drums due to lockdown and used a remote session drummer to bring to life a T&E demo of sorts. Since then this track has undergone a massive overhaul. In its original guise, it had a terribly clean vocal attempt, a few solid riffs some solid drums, and not much more. A re-mix of sorts was also compiled for the aforementioned Covid release titled I'm in Purgatory and this version was a far more vicious beast with massive symphonic accompaniment and some brutally distorted harsh vocals throughout. It sounded pretty damn cool in that guise but we decided to completely re-do the full thing, this time with more riffs, better vocals, and a far more brutal delivery, and decided to incorporate a rather tasty downtempo middle section where we have a little bit of a proggy trip in terms of arrangement, tempo, chord progressions and delivery.

This reworked version with its stupendous, building snare roll/double kick intro courtesy of our drummer extraordinaire Jura Bryceland this track is just a sucker-punch and very much a statement of intent for the full album... From the intro alone T&E simply had to be the album's opener.

2. El Silencio sera Eterno:

Silencio was another track written by our lead guitarist Neil Dunnachie. Somehow this track (in its secondary form shall we say) landed us multiple record deal offers back in the 1st quarter of 2022. This was another track we had been sitting on during COVID-19 and was originally available in a terrible demo format on New Beginnings and (again) with a brutal clean vocal attempt. Jay, vocals was trying to switch up his delivery and wanted to experiment for whatever reason.

Needless to say, this didn't work in the long run. Anyway in 2021 after the New Beginnings release, we were contacted by a local award-winning multimedia company, 'Comharra' who were looking to branch out into the music industry especially music video production (and later a record label). Misophonia was selected as a music video guinea pig and was offered a fully funded, fully produced music video, as well as animation artwork, logos, etc.

Anyway, Comharra filmed 2 videos for us one being 'Prelude to Silence' (a horror-style prequel shall we say) and the main music video for El Silencio. This track was then self-released and picked up by 5 separate labels. Fast forward to 2023, this had to be re-worked because gone was the poor attempt at clean vocals, Jay was back to being his melodeath goblin self, gone was a drummer of limited skill, and returned to the fold was our original drummer Jura Bryceland who left the band in 2019 and after a 3-year hiatus returned in late 2022 to regain her throne (read drum stool). The track needed to be redone. With Jura's return silencio was now far more unhinged than its weedy predecessor. Powerhouse drums, killer bass, and guitar work an interesting production aesthetic, and seemed a good shout for track 2.

3. Still feel as blind:

SFAB is the MisophoniA classic. Le premiere. L'original... SFAB was one of if not the first tracks worked on for our little band of misophonic miscreants. Originally penned by Jay way back in 2016, This track has survived through all our lineup issues, failed auditions, more lineup issues, and more failed auditions. It's catchy, its heavy, its dark.

All the things misophonia wish to be and try our damndest to work toward. This is a live favorite and again a total powerhouse of a track. During Jura's time away from the band no one could replicate what she accomplishes in this track. the whole middle section is just incredible, You've heard of dueling guitar solos, but how about dueling drum and guitar solos...

That's right the middle section of this track is both a drum solo and guitar solo. It appears to be a trademark of ours...Dueling misophonic banjos (but it's a guitar and drumkit.)

Another track that has gone through some changes but only minor ones. Very much a solid track and is a very good interpretation of what we are about...

4. Fated:

Fated is a piano piece written by our former guitarist Justin. This was originally a huge track with a massive nod to Triptykon. Dark, slow, heavy, brutal. Unfortunately, Justin was to leave the band shortly after writing this piece and we never got around to learning the actual guitar parts for it but Justin said we could keep the track. That just as well, because we had been using it as a walk-on stage piece or our mid-set breather when changing tuning or whatever. This is a dark piece. The piano is performed by Justin but the additional studio additions and production are all Jay, discordant voices, distorted whispers, and weird synth ambiance (studio f*ckery essentially). This track marks a shift to darker themes and a darker vibe for the remainder of the album. A perfect mid-album musical aesthetic switchover (try saying that 10x fast) Awesome piece we love it!

5. Void of Peace:

VOP is not quite the album title track but very close, unintentional but seems to be a slight nod to Slayer ala Raining Blood/Reign in Blood...Void of peace/Devoid of peace (Not musically of course). This was a track written by Jay, very different from some other tracks on the album but still very much within Misophonia's aural aesthetic. This is probably one of the more accessible tracks on the album due to its short and snappy delivery and overall vibe, In other words, it is single-friendly. It's a chuggy thrashy number and is pretty straight to the point, with no other guitar pieces, and is the 1st track so far to not have a guitar solo. It does however have the now omnipresent Misophonia trademark of weird dark ambient clean proggy guitar middle section and killer drums. A solid halfway marker.

6. The abandoned babes of Tuam:

Tuam (for short) is the 'pies de resistance' of the album well that's the intention, an 8-minute-long epic. The content of this song is not to be taken lightly as it is based on true events. The song is about the Tuam babies (google Tuam babies for the full story) This is based on the tragedy of the Bon Secours Mother and Baby home in which a mass grave of children and infants was discovered ion the grounds of an old halfway house where unmarried women/sexual abuse victims etc would go and give birth, hidden away and segregated from the judging eyes of a strongly religious Irish population. Here the mothers would give birth and serve a year's unpaid internship (housekeeping, gardening, bible studies, farming, cleaning, etc) the payment was a roof over their heads and 3 hot meals a day. After this year was up the mothers would be asked to leave but also had to leave their children behind in the 'care' of the church and the sisters that ran the home. These children were bastards, born of sin and essentially had no place under God. The sisters would look upon these helpless children with utter disdain and disgust, they would neglect, abuse, and starve these children, and when challenged by the home ever increasing mortality rate (25-30% or just over 1 in 4 died) the sisters stated overpopulation and lack of funding. An initial grave site was discovered in the 70's but this was then re-covered after being wrongly cited as a grave of smallpox victims. This was not the case.

In 2012 a local historian started looking into the history of the home. This led to the discovery of an unusually high mortality rate within the home 1 in 4 children to be precise. Another historian in 2014 stepped up this investigation and was to uncover evidence of illegal adoptions, neglect, abuse, starvation, etc. They soon discovered the names, ages, and causes of death of all those that had perished... Almost 1000 children and infants were found to have died within the walls of the Bon Secour home (1925-1961). These children had to be buried somewhere & most likely it would be an unmarked grave, after all these children deserved not to be buried with their names on sanctified ground, no they deserved less, much less it would appear.

In 2017, the original grave site that was discovered in the 70s was excavated, which in turn led to a bigger chamber and led to an even bigger chamber. It was here the remains of almost 1000 children and infants were found, this chamber was the home's underground septic tank. With such a strong lyrical focus this song had to be epic and epic it is. Tempo changes, awesome yet intense instrumentation, and lyrics throughout, effortlessly mixed with disturbing horroresque soundscapes. We think we have said what we wanted to say and delivered what we wanted to deliver with this one...

7. New Beginnings:

New Beginnings MMXXIII is a far more brutal beast than its original 2021 release. As with Silencio and T&E this is a reworked version of a song from the New Beginnings EP. New riffs, new drums, and updated lyrics, and is now one of My (Jay's) favorites on the album. The music is performed and the lyrics spat with the same intensity as Tuam, the track builds and builds to a ferocious outro solo section. All while being very accessible. This was Originally written by Jay but during the 2023 re-recording sessions it saw some changes after the first few recorded drafts sounded pitiful due to lack of drive and discernable riffs. Enter Jordan & Neil with their riffahollic minds both completely knocking this track off its axis and for the best as it is now one of the release standout tracks (again according to me) Jay.

Tracks 8/9:

These tracks were both written by former guitarist Justin Laidlaw. Justin allowed us usage of these tracks as they have undergone considerable changes from his original vision for the tracks, plus we are still good friends with no bad blood. Both tracks were previously released as a maxi single under the titles of Sorrows of yesterday parts i & ii.

8. Sorrows of yesterday:

This 2024 album edit of Sorrows of Yeterday, although originally written by Justin the version you hear on the album is performed and arranged by our good friend and collaborator Enzo Satera (Creative lead/writer/director for Comharra, the multimedia company mentioned previously) Enzo heard Justin's original version of Sorrows and fell in love with it. So much so that he took Justin's original composition and arranged and performed the track you hear now. This track stands as a testament to what true collaboration entails. Complete trust and unbridled passion. Justin sharing the track with us and trusting Enzo with the arrangement, Enzo's passion for the piece and his care and attention to detail in the final delivery, musical minds coming together in harmony, and with post mix and mastering handled by Misophonia this track is sublime a track we are very proud of.

9. Cursing the day:

The choice to switch from a Sorrows part I & pt ii subtitle seemed a solid plan as we had previously released single edits of these tracks. It seemed a cheat if we were to title the tracks the same as on the single releases. Cursing the day was quickly chosen to replace what was originally Sorrows pt ii due to it being the chorus lyric that appears throughout the track. The lyrical content here is very close to home for far too many of us and that is being crippled by depression and chronic mental health struggles and the release you feel when you make it through that crippling darkness, be it through therapy or medication (I speak of my rather brutal personal experience with this one JAy) it is about seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and reaching for that light and not letting go. Instrumentation as with a lot of the tracks on this release is far superior to how we released them before we found our definitive lineup, sound, and style. Blistering drums raw emotive lyrics, amazing performances from everyone, and again a stupendous outro solo section that builds and builds where the final payoff is very worth the wait, the metaphorical light at the end of the tunnel. A live favorite and a damn good way to end a show and an album

10. El silencio - Zi0Zer0 remix:

We love our buddy Enzo we do, this was a bonus track gifted to us after the 2022 single release of El Silencio. Enzo was a producer for that single and the director of our music video and he had an idea... This track is that idea. Enzo decided to not just showcase his awesome mixing and producing talents (yes we know producing is a made-up word but it sounds funny and works in context lol) but this remix also showcases his sublime vocal talents. This version is just epic. Misophonia crossed with Pendulum and The Prodigy and the result here is actually better than the main version on this album. This remix edit just wouldn't have worked amongst the overall aesthetic and raw vibe of the other tracks as far as album continuity goes. Zi0Zer0 is Enzo's own musical outlet it is awesome. Glowsticks and strobe lights at the ready.