If you listen to MC Lars and The Matches, they’d tell you Hot Topic is not punk rock. If they were to tell you who was punk rock, however, they may well name The Mercy Suite as one of those bands under the ‘punk’ banner. Hailing from Sweden via Leeds, TMS are one of those bands that help to define a label – in this case their machine-gun skate punk with a hardcore-tinged swagger is a decent enough representation of Leeds’ Bombed Out Records – a label with a more than decent alumni.
‘Crestfallen’ is fast and furious and barely leaves you a second to catch your breath. It’s not perfect, but it’s still one of those records that fans of bands like Joe Ninety, Milloy and Fig 4.0 will lap up. ‘Fuelling Fires’ and ‘Blueprint’ are incendary blasts of spiteful punk rock; guitars ablazing and cymbals and drums crashing. There’s a fire in their collective bellies and, as they rattle through 14 songs, it’s a blaze that won’t be extinguished in a hurry.
www.themercysuite.co.uk
Bombed Out
paul