Miserylab - From Which No Light Escapes

I've grown up with Porl King (who is Miserylab), although when I first heard him he was in another band and the year was 1990. If you were around in those times, you know what a long shadow this band cast and how incredibly diverse they wound up being before the plug was pulled.
Enough history, welcome the new Miserylab album, everyone. Achingly beautiful little tales of opportunities lost, people vanished, the darkness of present time. Porl's never been one to have a rosy outlook on how this world works and age has not mellowed or softened his stance.
A self-proclaimed recluse, King has done several other albums under the Miserylab moniker but this is the one which showcases just how incisively brilliant his songwriting has become. This is no case of too little, too late, oh no. The tone he exudes is one of weariness and recrimination at just about every institution you could think of. Unlike the name of his band, however, there burns at the core an exuberant sense of strength. Life may have all of it's turns, but it does not turn upon me. People will have their secrets and their mythology to comfort them but Miserylab want none of it.

In a perfect existence, Miserylab would be left alone to do whatever it wanted. Human interaction, already limited to remote, web-based connection, would be sundered... but King likes his audience, despite the dourness prevalent in so many of his songs on display here. There are not many of us, this physical CD was limited to the number of pre-orders received for it which makes the soaring keyboards and meticulous guitar work resonate on a very personal level. I suppose this may be the point of "From Which no Light Escapes", it's as much of himself as he's willing to give away into the ether of the internet.

There are some unbelievably infectious chorus' to be discovered here, in a place from which no light escapes. In the plainest of terms, Miserylab hit hard, vengefully so. If you'd been on the fence about whether or not to look into the mysterious Mr. King's project, go to the site, pay the man his lucre and hear for yourself the majesty he's encapsulated on this record. Look up the song "The Skin Thing" on YouTube, behold the determination in this man's eyes. Try to switch it off, you won't be able. It could be his most polished track yet, yet note how few views it has garnered... I don't get it, I really don't.

One has to wonder what his former band mates, who have slipped into utter obscurity, will think of this. It has the fighting spirit which should make all who doubted 'The Tyranny of Inaction' back in 1994 eat their words. I'm tempted to call this the proper follow up to that coiled Asp, and even though he'd bristle at the comparison there is something so spitefully venomous about Miserylab's latest that I can't help but view it as such. The switch back to fuller arrangements after many self-imposed years in the minimal production arena was very wise, but being astute has never been difficult for this guy. As a fan for these past two decades, it's been an honor to collect what he does; through all the highs and lows, one thing remains constant about what this gentleman puts out, there's a singular phrase to summarize: tough as nails. He's been scorned by the fickleness of fans, he's been kicked about by labels and burned by the industry many times but he won't break. Miserylab endure. Mar 23 2011