May 21, 2013 • Topshelf Records
Topshelf Records has been on fire lately. You Blew It!, Prawn, The World Is a Beautiful Place..., and this album a couple months ago. Top shelf stuff indeed.
Have Mercy takes a slightly (okay, significantly) poppier approach to the post-hardcore / emo stuff that I've been all over lately, and believe it or not that's not at all a bad thing. They crank out lots (and LOTS) of melody, with catchy lines all over the place and hook after hook (I've had "Let's Talk About Your Hair" stuck in my head for days) and some especially-powerful choruses (just check out the end of "Hell", it's fantastic!). It's in no small part thanks to having lots of really great dynamics; the album runs the spectrum from heavy pounding sections to quiet, introspective, almost post-rock parts (not to mention a neat little departure into alt-country for "Living Dead", which works really well).
Surprisingly, the vocalist is the shining star of the album by far—while the instruments are all quite good, he really carries the music to extra heights. His style is quite diverse, from almost-murmurs to emotive and powerful screams; and sure, maybe the lyrics are a bit cheesy (it's emo, after all) but damn if it isn't great to listen to.
Sure, maybe it's not a masterpiece, and some songs are definitely better than others, but this is an album I love all the way through. I can only hope they keep up this staggering momentum; but even if not... damn has it been a good time for emo lately.
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