Take a few deep breaths. Get yourself centered. Push anything with sharp corners in your music listening area off to the side. Once you drop the needle on Proper Corruption you will have a hard time catching your breath for the next 20 + minutes and I wouldn’t want to see you crack your skull on the coffee table. Seattle has a vibrant heavy/noisy music scene and sometimes great bands can get lost in the shuffle. Mercy Ties look to make sure they are not one of those bands.
Mercy Ties debut full length is being released by Glory Kid Limited. Check out that album artwork on the left. For those that don’t know their volcanoes, Mount St. Helens erupted in 1980 and with devastating force. That street sign is covered in ash. Seattle was not affected by this blast but it was still pretty close to home. After listening to Proper Corruption on repeat it is safe to say devastation is an appropriate scene to incorporate into Mercy Ties’ artwork. Devastation is, most likely, the feeling the listener will be left with upon hearing these 10 killer tracks.
Proper Corruption was recorded with Bearded Gentlemen Music favorite Scott Evans (Check out this interview with Mr. Evans HERE). The music has the punk/noise rock sound that is on point in the Pacific Northwest these days with just the right amount of that hardcore element. It has the same widespread accessibility to their song structures that Seattle buddies Grenades possess. In fact, they teamed up to release a split 12″ a while back (check that out HERE). And like Grenades, they also know how to spin that around and shove it right back down your throat. Songs like “Fuck Your Male Sexual Entitlement” conjure up all of those angry and violent emotions that you will no doubt be thanking me for telling you to move your coffee table. I find myself damn near bouncing off the walls while blasting these songs.
Check out Proper Corruption’s opening track “You Have The Right To Remain Violent”:
Mercy Ties is now a five piece band. I was not one of the initiated prior to them expanding in number. That being said, I have gone back and listened to their past releases and can say that it seems they are definitely in their groove as the roster is currently set. According to Shane Mehling of Decibel Magazine (and Great Falls!) “Now as a five-piece, they’ve channeled the venom of their live shows into these ten tracks.” If you know anything about me you would know that live shows translating to recorded material is right up my alley.
Rating: 4.5/5
God damn I love this band. Now all that is left for me to do is actually make it to one of their live shows. It appears the only one on the horizon for now is:
December 1st @ El Corazon (Seattle)
I will keep my eyes open for any tour announcements though and make sure to relay that in the twitterverse.
Glory Kid Limited is releasing Proper Corruption on vinyl. (1st pressing. 100 on Transparent Red vinyl, 400 on Opaque Black vinyl). You can pre-order it now over here –> Mercy Ties – Proper Corruption