Album Review: Miscreance – Reminiscence
Reviewed by Sam Jones
Introduced to the band last year in the run up for Kill-Town Death Fest’s 2025 edition, Miscreance were labelled as an Italian Coroner initiating my Neuron Activation, convincing me to give them a check out. Their 2022 Convergence record was a breath of fresh air in my books, delivering the technical threads and death metal medley I was pining for prior to Coroner’s own studio comeback. After experiencing the band live themselves and the news of a new record on the horizon. I am thoroughly on board with whatever Miscreance can throw at me. Originally formed in 2013 out of Veneto, Italy, as Atomic Massacre they released just an EP and a Demo before becoming Miscreance in 2018 and soon unleashed their Coroner-influenced style upon us. Reminiscence, their second album, is due out August 28th and this time through Season Of Mist. I was very excited to get started.
If Miscreance wanted to demonstrate their last album was no mere stylistic one-off then Reminiscence proves that right out of the gate. With basslines nicely audible, drums that always leave you guessing and a riff attack that’s as predictable as the lottery, Miscreance arguably go even harder on the technicality of their sound than their last outing did. It’s the sheer breadth of ideas and techniques they’ll employ throughout a single song that makes them worth checking out, with blast beats and alternating strumming sequences, leading into flying solos all the while the rhythm guitar continues its discordant assault. Miscreance have rapidly established their sound as one merging juxtaposing aesthetics and yet make it work.
Whilst this praise towards Miscreanxe is thoroughly earned, we must remember they’re always playing at significant speed. Their style is a technical thrash/death metal attack and they aren’t sleeping on the technical element; I can’t conceive of the writing and consensus that must go into crafting a record like Reminiscence given how quickly they play. A less-capable band would have slowed their momentum to give aid to their own ability to perform but Miscreance throw caution to the wind and unleash a succession of volleys that would make other thrash acts whimper. The unpredictability of their songwriting means a single track can have more crammed into it than other bands have across a full record, and since it’s always changing up you’ll constantly be on your toes watching for the next surprise.
As you continue listening you’ll be amazed at how deliberate all of Miscreance’s songwriting is here. Yes, they’re playing at speed and present just how precise their playing is, and how they’re willing to shake up the playing field their sound represents, but it’s worth noting how everything has its timing and its position in the track they’re playing. The momentum may be wild but it’s not like they’re thrashing around (pun unintended) around control over their faculties; if a riff or specific note is present it’s because it was planned there intentionally. The way they’re able to convey differing tempo as well through methodical playing and writing so it’s not some jarring change is also on point too. It really is a thinking person’s thrash.
But we can’t think Miscreance’s performance results in some superfluous stream of technical thrash where the atmosphere is weightless; there are several key moments where the impact they deliver truly hits its mark, creating these stomping sequences where it feels overtly stronger because the band aren’t necessarily bringing devastating, crushing levels at every moment. That’s not their prerogative so when that feeling is inferred it’s much more potent because the technical edge is the reason they write, and the reason fans return to them too.
In conclusion, Reminiscence sees Miscreance truly embrace and further the technicality they made their own on their last record, though I do feel they’ve taken it that necessary step further herein, a step that was entirely needed to distance themselves not only from their influences but also their contemporaries. There really aren’t many bands like Miscreance kicking around right now who are willing to play this fast with the complex songwriting they’ve got on display. Multiple listens are therefore rewarded due to your discovering of aspects you will have naturally missed on your first time and that’s completely okay, it’ll only deepen your adoration of Miscreance’s madness. At just forty minutes Reminiscence gets what it needs to do out of the way whilst providing a real plethora of exciting material to sink your teeth into. A worthwhile thrash album amongst the greater lot for 2026.
For all the latest news, reviews, interviews across the heavy metal spectrum follow THE RAZORS’S EDGE on facebook, twitter and instagram.
