Defunct Local Band Profile Series: State Of Misery

It's time once again for this month's Defunct Local Band Profile! This is our monthly look back at a local metal or hard rock band that, though no longer together or active, are still worth checking out! As always, this month's band was RANDOMLY SELECTED with no biases beyond the presence of working internet pages, and this could be our "newest" band profiled when factoring in the band's lifespan and time of dissolution. Either way, they should be quite familiar for metalheads in Sault Ontario, so here's this month's defunct profile! (Updated on May 6th, 2013)
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State of Misery

Genre: Party Death Metal

Hometown: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Members: (Members not in their last full lineup in italics)

Steve Rhodes (D3athcharg3r, The Valentine's Day Massacre, Bring The Misery), vocals
Ray Cowan (With Blood Build Character, The Unforgiven), lead guitar
Kevin D'Orazio (With Blood Build Character, Stealing Kisses), bass (formerly guitar)
Nick Kainula (With Blood Build Character, Stealing Kisses), drums
Devon Overman, bass

Audio/Video: By the end of their initial run, State of Misery had amassed a good sized repertoire of original songs (like "Stand The Fuck Up" & "Don't Break The Silence") and some well received covers in their setlists, including a Lamb of God cover from their last concert in 2012. Plans for a demo did produce one original song, "Devil's Never Cry, They Bleed", which was uploaded to their Reverbnation page if you want to check it out (I also uploaded it YouTube as well.) YouTube has a good amount of live video footage from State of Misery concerts, so check out the YouTube channels ran by Jessica Kisby, Cheryl Schultz, and The Sault Metal Scene to give a bunch of their live originals & covers a look! Here's one, as State of Misery played their original "Pray For Me" at The Roosevelt Hotel in March 2011!



Info/Analysis: State of Misery officially launched to the public in November 2010, making their live debut at a Roosevelt Hotel metal night on December 9th of that year. They would quickly became a frequent sight at local metal concerts in early 2011, bringing their high energy deathcore sounds everywhere from Rosie metal nights to all ages Oddfellows Hall concerts, while opening for bands like Woods of Ypres & Dead and Divine. Though a quartet for most of their existence, the band enlisted bassist Devon Overman for most of 2011. State of Misery had big plans for their future, including a demo EP release & the sale of band t-shirts, but internal differences & member departures led to their sudden demise in May 2011. After a brief reunion later that year failed to take off, the band's original lineup reformed once again in April 2012, playing what would be their last show at The Canadian Nightclub the following month to mixed reviews. However, this reunion was also short-lived, as the band quietly dissolved that summer, with the members splintering off into new projects, including 3 members in the second version of With Blood Build Character.

It's disappointing to see State of Misery become so unstable as a functioning band, because they are were very promising! Their sound appealed to hardcore and death metal crowds, and they always had a good energy and stage presence that helped them grow a devoted following their initial half-year run, who'll hopefully return for their third act! From Steve's brutal death growling to Ray's proficient lead guitar work, State of Misery left a good impression in the scene in early 2011, and though their later reunions didn't see the same successes, hopefully they're remembered fondly, and maybe they'll come back down the road in some form!
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I hope you guys enjoyed this month's Defunct Local Band Profile! We'll begin a double run of Sault Michigan bands next month, but which band from across the river will we profile next month? Two actually, as the first band chosen didn't have enough substantial information to warrant a whole post to themselves. So I picked another band randomly to fill things out, and with that said, next month's profiled bands will be From The Ashes of Angels, the inactive hardcore project from Sault Michigan-area native David Waite, and Traynwreck, the defunct hard rock project from current Banned guitarist Alex Traynor! One has material but minimal information, while the other has good information but no material, so it balances out! Watch out for this around September 10th, and stay tuned for more news and weekend concert previews very soon! Thanks everyone!