- Intro
- Broken Mirrors
- Oh the Blood
- Most Dangerous Game
- BroFest
- Repetitions
- Malak
- Interlude
- Thief in the Night
- Redeemer
- White Flag
- Other Side of the River
Release: October 25, 2011
Genre: Metal
Rating: 3.5/5
Mercy Screams is one of those screamo bands that you cannot help but listen to. Their breakdowns and guitar riffs are spectacular. The band's instrumentals are amazing and never cease to amaze me. This is Mercy Screams debut full-length album and I think it turned out really great. Jeremiah Hirsch's vocals seem to be a hit or miss most of the time. Some songs he sounds spectacular and others he does not sound quite as good. Mercy Screams sounds a lot like For Today with their hard breakdowns and the use of just an unclean vocalist.
The instrumentals at the beginning of "Oh the Blood" are absolutely spectacular and they get me pumped every time I listen to this song. On this song I am more of a fan of the instrumentals than the scream. They utilized another screamer on this song that sounds like more of a high-pitched blood curdling scream. It kind of freaked me out the first time I listened to it and it definitely is not the style of metal music I am a big fan of.
Mercy Screams redeemed themselves with the next song, "Most Dangerous Game." Jeremiah's vocals turned out really great and the instrumentals of course are really good. I especially like the drums in this song, if you pay attention to them they sound amazing. A lot of the guitar riffs in this song sound a lot like August Burns Red, and more specifically their album Constellations. This song turned out spectacular and it is definitely one that you will be head banging to pretty quickly.
The minute I saw that there was a song called "BroFest" on this album I got so excited; that has got to be one of the coolest song names ever and it turned out sounding really good. I love the very beginning where they all yell out, "We're going out tonight," and then Jeremiah goes on to scream, "Without regrets!" That has got to be the one of the best beginnings to a metal song ever. I love this song so much and it is one of the few metal songs that I feel like I can have a great time with because the lyrics are not as heavy as other metal songs. Another thing I like about this song is that I can actually understand Jeremiah when he is screaming. Most of the songs on Broken Mirrors I cannot distinguish what he is saying, so I have to look at the lyrics. But this song I completely understand him.
"Repetitions" is another For Today-esque song. It has extremely hard guitar riffs and the breakdown is spectacular. Jeremiah's voice is absolutely brutal and really good on this track. I am still not a big fan of the other screamer they use sometimes. Hopefully the guy's voice will grow on me with time, but right now he just sounds like he is screaming for his life and it sounds really weird.
"Malak" is one of the few metal love songs that I have heard. I think the concept is so cool and the mixture between love and metal is one that I would like to see more often. Jeremiah's voice turned out pretty good on this track as well, even though he sounds better on a lot of the other tracks. The guitars especially turned out great on this song and the breakdown is one of my favorites on the album.
I think my biggest concern with Broken Mirrors is the screaming. Sometimes Jeremiah is spot-on with his voice and other times he sounds really weird. I wish he would be more consistent with his vocals and I wish that they would not let the other guy scream. It usually sounds really cool when you have two screamers on one song but this time it just turned out really weird. If they fix those issues then I think their next album has the potential to be a 5/5.
Mercy Screams sounds so much like For Today but I think they could possibly become more popular and even better than them. They definitely have the talent and I am super excited to hear another album from them with amazing guitar riffs and breakdowns. This album, for the most part, is pretty brutal and one that I think any metal fan will love.
Favorite Song: Most Dangerous Game
Favorite Lyrics: "Failure isn't falling down, it's staying there so you can grow into more or surrender to less." (From the song "White Flag")
The instrumentals at the beginning of "Oh the Blood" are absolutely spectacular and they get me pumped every time I listen to this song. On this song I am more of a fan of the instrumentals than the scream. They utilized another screamer on this song that sounds like more of a high-pitched blood curdling scream. It kind of freaked me out the first time I listened to it and it definitely is not the style of metal music I am a big fan of.
Mercy Screams redeemed themselves with the next song, "Most Dangerous Game." Jeremiah's vocals turned out really great and the instrumentals of course are really good. I especially like the drums in this song, if you pay attention to them they sound amazing. A lot of the guitar riffs in this song sound a lot like August Burns Red, and more specifically their album Constellations. This song turned out spectacular and it is definitely one that you will be head banging to pretty quickly.
The minute I saw that there was a song called "BroFest" on this album I got so excited; that has got to be one of the coolest song names ever and it turned out sounding really good. I love the very beginning where they all yell out, "We're going out tonight," and then Jeremiah goes on to scream, "Without regrets!" That has got to be the one of the best beginnings to a metal song ever. I love this song so much and it is one of the few metal songs that I feel like I can have a great time with because the lyrics are not as heavy as other metal songs. Another thing I like about this song is that I can actually understand Jeremiah when he is screaming. Most of the songs on Broken Mirrors I cannot distinguish what he is saying, so I have to look at the lyrics. But this song I completely understand him.
"Repetitions" is another For Today-esque song. It has extremely hard guitar riffs and the breakdown is spectacular. Jeremiah's voice is absolutely brutal and really good on this track. I am still not a big fan of the other screamer they use sometimes. Hopefully the guy's voice will grow on me with time, but right now he just sounds like he is screaming for his life and it sounds really weird.
"Malak" is one of the few metal love songs that I have heard. I think the concept is so cool and the mixture between love and metal is one that I would like to see more often. Jeremiah's voice turned out pretty good on this track as well, even though he sounds better on a lot of the other tracks. The guitars especially turned out great on this song and the breakdown is one of my favorites on the album.
I think my biggest concern with Broken Mirrors is the screaming. Sometimes Jeremiah is spot-on with his voice and other times he sounds really weird. I wish he would be more consistent with his vocals and I wish that they would not let the other guy scream. It usually sounds really cool when you have two screamers on one song but this time it just turned out really weird. If they fix those issues then I think their next album has the potential to be a 5/5.
Mercy Screams sounds so much like For Today but I think they could possibly become more popular and even better than them. They definitely have the talent and I am super excited to hear another album from them with amazing guitar riffs and breakdowns. This album, for the most part, is pretty brutal and one that I think any metal fan will love.
Favorite Song: Most Dangerous Game
Favorite Lyrics: "Failure isn't falling down, it's staying there so you can grow into more or surrender to less." (From the song "White Flag")
They actually have brofest tshirts...And im not sure but i do not think that there is a second vocalist im pretty sure it is jeremiah
ReplyDeleteAnd most dangerous game has a music video coming out
ReplyDeleteI'll have to get myself one of those Brofest shirts. And it sounds a lot like there is a second vocalist because it is much more high pitched and more of a shriek than a scream, but you could definitely be right. Keep your eyes our for more metal reviews (especially from Red Cord Records)!
ReplyDeleteIt is Jeremiah doing the high-pitched screaming. It's him on their Pathways EP, I doubt they would change it.
ReplyDeleteOk cool! I'm not a huge fan of the high-pitched scream but that's pretty cool that his voice has such a wide-range.
ReplyDeleteIt's me doing all the vocal parts besides the singing and last breakdown in whiteflag which is Garret Rapp of The Color Morale and in the last 2 step and breakdown in Broken Mirrors is Carlos S. From Before there was Rosalyn. Thank you so much for your kind words and criticism it means a lot to us. Check out our Merch Store www.mercyscreamsmerch.bigcartel.com
ReplyDeleteThank you again and God bless
Hey man I'm the drummer for the band, I just want to take time out to tell you how much I appreciate yours and everyone elses input on the album before its even came out haha. This has truely been a dream come true for all of us to see just how much hype is being spread over this album. Thankyou again. Much love from Mercy Screams!
ReplyDeleteThanks Jeremiah and Kyele for the comments! I love the album and I cannot wait to see how well it does when it comes out next week. Keep up the good work and keep spreading the love of Jesus!
ReplyDeleteBrofest was written by their drummer, Kyele Shanahan!!!
ReplyDeleteweak stuff
ReplyDelete