Misery Signals: Karl Schubach Out, Original Vocalist Jesse Zaraska Back In

Progressive metalcore act Misery Signals last released an album in 2013, Absent Light, for which they crowd-funded over $100,000 for a self-release.

And while it seems the band is gearing up for a new record, the lineup appears to have gotten an overhaul: if a recently uploaded photo on their Facebook page is to be believed (above, and why wouldn’t it be?) longtime vocalist Karl Schubach is out and a man who has been positively identified by Lambgoat as original singer Jesse Zaraska is back in.

I’m certainly not the world’s foremost Misery Signals expert — I did like 2008’s Controller quite a bit, though — but my impression of this personnel swap is that touting Zaraska’s pilgrimage home as a return to form is akin to holding up Paul Di’Anno as Iron Maiden’s flag-waver. Sure, both were original vocalists in their respective bands, but other dudes recorded way more material with them and have come to be synonymous with those bands. No disrespect to Zaraska, who I’m sure is a fine fellow and talented vocalist, but I feel like this will actually leave many fans disappointed; Schubach sang on three of Misery Signals’ four full-length albums, and their most popular ones to boot. This doesn’t strike me as being akin to Jesse Leach returning to Killswitch Engage.

Maybe I’m wrong, though, and Zaraska’s return is just the kick in the pants this band needs. Can any OG Misery Signals fans out there clarify?