Traitors is the third studio album by American deathgrind

Deathgrind

Deathgrind is a musical genre that fuses death metal and grindcore. The genre, along with pornogrind, is related to the goregrind subgenre...

 band Misery Index

Misery Index (band)

Misery Index is an American deathgrind band formed in 2001 in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, by Jason Netherton on vocals and bass guitar, Mike Harrison on vocals and guitar, and Kevin Talley on drums. From 2006-2010, its line-up consisted of Netherton on vocals and bass guitar, Sparky Voyles...

. It was engineered and produced by Kurt Ballou

Kurt Ballou

Kurt Ballou is the guitarist from Massachusetts-based band Converge. Aside from his role in Converge, he is a prolific producer, engineering and producing out of his own Godcity studio.- GodCity studio :...

 and released through Relapse Records

Relapse Records

Relapse Records is an independent record label based in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. It was founded by Matthew F. Jacobson in 1990.-History:The label was started by Matthew F. Jacobson in August, 1990 in his parents' basement in Aurora, Colorado...

 on September 30, 2008. A video was released for the song "Traitors".

Track listing

1. "We Never Come in Peace" (Adam Jarvis, Jason Netherton) – 1:59
2. "Theocracy" (Jarvis, Sparky Voyles) – 4:30
3. "Partisans of Grief" (Jarvis, Mark Klöppel) – 3:36
4. "Traitors" (Jarvis, Klöppel) – 2:23
5. "Ghosts of Catalonia" (Jarvis, Klöppel) – 5:00
6. "Occupation" (Jarvis, Netherton) – 4:43
7. "Ruling Class Cancelled" (Jarvis, Klöppel) – 2:07
8. "The Arbiter" (Jarvis, Klöppel) – 2:02
9. "American Idolatry" (Jarvis, Netherton) – 2:19
10. "Thrown into the Sun" (Jarvis, Klöppel) – 3:58
11. "Black Sites" (Jarvis, Voyles) – 4:44

Personnel

• Adam Jarvis – drums
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
  
  
• Mark Kloeppel – guitar, vocals
• Jason Netherton – bass guitar
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  , vocals
  Singing
  Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
  
  
• Sparky Voyles – guitar
  Electric guitar
  An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
  
  
• Guy Kozowyk - vocals on "Partisans of Grief"
• Tomas Lindberg
  Tomas Lindberg
  Tomas "Tompa" Lindberg is a Swedish musician who has fronted many heavy metal bands. He has been active as a musician and composer since the late 1980s. He teaches at a high school.-Career:...
  
   - vocals on "Ruling Class Cancelled"

Critical reception

Scott Alisoglu, reviewing the album for Blabbermouth.net

Blabbermouth.net

Blabbermouth.net is a website dedicated to heavy metal and hard rock news, as well as album and music DVD reviews. Blabbermouth.net was founded and is run by Borivoj Krgin. The first version of the website was officially launched in March 2001...

, considered the tracks on the album more varied and the songwriting better than on the preceding Discordia album, also noting an increased sense of melody. Pitchfork Media

Pitchfork Media

Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...

's Cosmo Lee stated that Ballou had achieved "a sound falling somewhere between 'battering ram' and 'machine gun'", calling the album a "thought-provoking package", with lyrical themes varying from criticism of the US government to celebrity worship. According to Allmusic writer Greg Prato, the band "keep things as precise, tight, and brutal as possible from start to finish", and called the album "a complete sonic assault".
The album was named Album Of The Month by Terrorizer magazine in November 2008.