Merrimac
The Mess, The Madness [7 inch] (2009)
Brian Shultz
Oh great, more shitty pseudo-metallic southern rock or whatever with weak-ass groove parts, lazily barked vocals and uninspired lyrics.
Hot Damn! was awesome, no question. The wealth of crap that has since sprung up in its wake -- save I Am Hollywood -- isn't, and Merrimac's fortitude-less The Mess, The Madness 7" is no exception. If they had some good dynamics (not just the pretty repulsive sneering melodic singing), or cool riffs here and there, alright, but this lol-metaphorz-through-corpses crap just feels so forced and fake.
What's weird is that the last band I reviewed who did a piss-poor job of the same thing had a song title with the same exact name! Jesus Christ! If it's a fucking "Party Song," show, don't tell. And it never is! Fuck.
Upstate New York has produced so much incredible punk/hardcore/metal the past few years, someone's bound to bottom out once in a while, I guess. This band's fucked my ears. The lesser, the better.