A mystery band from London ‘The Mercy House, with hardly any information on how they became a band or anything on any demo’s beforehand I was quite intrigued to listen to these fella’s. Unfortunately the band were battling health issues in the earlier days which could have ruined them, yet they struggled on. Finally the debut album is completed and released through their own label TMH Records. Any good? We’ll see…
The intro track ‘A broken State of Bliss’ is beautifully serene and the guitars sound like they are swerving through water. ‘Greed’ comes in with some awesome riffs and the bass reminds me of Faith No More. The vocals are stupidly impressive, again think Mike Patton and you’ve got it! The track offers a swinging sexy style along with a guitar solo that entwines with the rest of the music.
‘My Disease’ is a little different, the vocals are somewhat gothy with an industrial feeling yet the track still maintains the same raunchiness. It could have easily been an extra track on ‘The Queen of the Damned’ soundtrack along with the likes of Korn. Not much in the way of a solo on this one but to be fair it doesn’t need it; it’s pretty special as it is. The vocals on ‘Blind’ seem to change back in the style of the first track, cleaner and deeper. The relaxing guitars in the background and the ‘wow wow’ noises it’s making sounds quite special and dropping a note after the middle section just sounds filthy and makes it all the more awesome!
A lush bass line in ‘Lead the Way’ shows off the singers vocal ability even more with high pitched wails to be proud of yet ‘The End’ slows down into a slow and stunning piece which is worthy of a crowd full of people swinging their lighters and just a minute in then it gets a little heavier but still maintaining the slow pace. The guitars again twist beautifully and calmly around the music. ‘Weight’ has a raw rock feel to it and the killer riffs just keep impressing me and ‘Unclean’ has a cracking bouncy chorus.
A more serious feeling track in ‘Inversions’ containing some Axl Rose (back in the day when he was actually good) high pitched vocals and the riff on this one is probably a favourite of mine. The guitar solo is complete magic and the drumming on this one should induce some fist pumping action!
Sadly the last track is here, yet they send you off on a high with the best of the lot! ‘The Price of Dying’ is Slow and alluring and sends you off on a mission of waves and awe-inspiring riffs.
I’m absolutely gob smacked/stunned that this is The Mercy House’s debut album. It reeks of talent and it puts even some of the industry’s top selling artists to shame. The band sound like they have been doing this for years, definitely the best album I’ve heard in a long while. Well done guys! I shall be buying. The Mercy House will shortly be announcing a full UK tour for this summer.
(9/10 Charlene Rance)
1 Pingback