Review cliches: deployed! The Holy Mess play breakneck hardcore punk rock songs that mostly clock in at around the two minute-mark. The drums have that taut, somewhat flat sound that’s the style in a lot of of DIY hardcore punk. Forgive me if you don’t get what I mean; I know fuck all about drums.
This is a really enthusiastic, fun record, full of fast-paced simple-melodies and aggressive rhythms. The vocals rarely let up with two vocalists trading duties; there’s the somewhat traditional split between one guy who has the extra gruff, snotty voice and spits, barks and screams his vocals and the other guy with the cleaner and more melodic voice but with the smaller vocal range. Every so often the rest of the band throw in some “woah-oh-ohs” too. The lyrics are awesome in that too-fast-to-think singalong way; the themes are common punk rock motifs, all records and fucking up and drinking and the place the band live and not taking shit seriously (probably at least in part to cover up the fact of taking shit seriously).
Oh yeah, and there’s a cool Propagandhi hat tip in ‘CRAZY HORNY’ with the sample from the end of ‘Back to the Motor League’ from Today’s Empires dropped in. I figure The Holy Mess are fans of Propagandhi’s snotty punk rock era and get that there will inevitably be some comparisons between the two bands, so they tried to head that off at the pass. Well, there’s no politics here but there’s plenty of kickass snotty hardcore punk that will accidentally elbow you in the teeth, buy you a beer and then steal that same drink.
Dismount won’t win many prizes for originality but who gives a shit when the tunes are this fun. One for fans of, hmm, let’s say early Propagandhi, Dear Landlord, Gatorface, Grabass Charlestons and the Lawrence Arms. Pow! Punk rock!
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Hey I know this is kinda random but do you happen to have the lyric booklet for this? I bought the record and it didn’t come with one and been looking for it for a while now. If you can either transcribe it or scan it or something that would be sick..
Afraid I can’t help you there Brandon, my review copy was digital-only…