At Wacken 2026, Misery Index sat down for a candid chat with Sinusoidal Music. Here’s what he had to say!
When Misery Index first played Wacken in 2004, the band was still in the nascent stages of its journey. More than two decades later, Jason Netherton remembers the festival as being massive even back then. Returning to the German metal institution, however, made one thing clear – Wacken has grown and is bigger than ever.
From Wacken 2004 to a Metal Scene That Keeps Growing
“It’s hard to remember, but I guess it’s gotten bigger. It must have. It seems like there’s a few more stages now. The area is massive. But I remember it being massive back then, too,” Netherton reminisced in a candid chat with Sinusoidal Music.
For the band, that first trip to Europe was also a crash course in just how seriously the continent took heavy music. Netherton recalls being particularly struck by the scale of the European metal circuit, especially at a time when the US did not have festivals of the same size.
“I was blown away by how, especially at that time metal was so big and thriving in Europe,” he said.
That gap, according to Netherton, still exists. While the US has a strong metal community and several major festivals, he sees the genre as relatively niche within the wider American music landscape. Europe, meanwhile, has a much larger ecosystem, with major festivals happening across different countries throughout the summer.
“Europe’s always been stronger,” Netherton said. “I mean the combined market I guess with Germany it’s massive.”
The conversation also turned towards Misery Index’s recent direction. Their latest single, “Feral Future,” explores humanity’s increasingly disconnected relationship with nature. For Netherton, the idea came from watching the world become increasingly exhausting and divided.
“It’s exhausting these days the way the world is, the direction the world’s gone in,” he said.
Rather than diving further into political arguments, Netherton said the band’s upcoming album will focus more broadly on the relationship between humans and the natural world. The idea is rooted in something basic: people often behave as if nature exists somewhere outside their everyday lives, when in reality, humans remain part of it.
Making Misery Index Work Around Real Life
After roughly 25 years of Misery Index, keeping the band going requires more than writing riffs and getting on stage. The members now have families, jobs and responsibilities outside the band, which has changed how they approach touring.
“We were a lot more full-time in the first 10 years,” Netherton explained. “Last 10 years, we’ve, you know, we have started families, we have kids.”
For a band that would need to tour constantly to make a full-time living from music, that is not necessarily a sustainable option. Instead, Misery Index has found a middle ground that allows them to keep playing without sacrificing time with their families.
“But we don’t want to do that because we want to be with our families some of the time. So we found a balance,” he said.
That balance also extends to the physical demands of playing death metal for decades. Netherton handles both bass and vocals, a combination that requires serious stamina. When asked whether it has become harder with age, his answer was refreshingly direct.
“It’s more strenuous than it used to be”
Still, the band continues to take care of themselves and squeeze as much life out of the project as possible.
And what should fans expect from the next Misery Index record? According to Netherton, the band is leaning into a slightly more punk-driven sound while keeping the grind and death metal elements that have defined them.
“Probably, a little more of a punk vibe, I think, coming,” he said. “I mean, it’s still going to be Misery index and have the same kind of stylistic as is evidenced by Feral Future, recent single, but it’ll still have some grind and death metal.”
That sounds like a familiar Misery Index formula with a few new ingredients. And if Netherton’s comments are anything to go by, the band is still very much interested in seeing where that can take them next.
Read More: Neil Peart Documentary No One’s Disciple Set for Toronto Premiere
