Released: October Genre: Rock / Emo Metacritic Rating: N/A CRM Rating: 9/10
There were plenty of reasons why Baltimore’s Have Mercy scored my AOTY for 2013, and a lot of those reasons exist on its follow-up, which claims spot No.7 this time around. The main reason for which I adored the band’s debut was the sheer emotion the four-piece somehow crammed into every single second, and there are a lot of seconds this time around where that level of emotion doesn’t necessarily feature to the same degree, hence my placement of A Place Of Our Own. In delivering a much more polished and refined work of art Have Mercy lost some of their edge, but that doesn’t stop their second LP from being excellent in almost every regard. Still carrying those bold, cathartic highs (Two Years, Plastic Covered Furniture) and weighted, empathy-inspiring lyrics (Howl) the band marked mark a music improvement this time around, personally I just feel like it’s come at a cost. That being said, this was my seventh favourite record of 2014, so I’m perhaps doing it a disservice by focusing on my own perceived flaws of it. The massive Pete Rose And Babe Ruth is a track I’ve been playing on a daily basis since it’s initial release early this year, whilst Spacecrafts is a rousing anthem destined for a passionate sing-along.
There are moments on A Place Of Our Own where Have Mercy are untouchable, and their second LP is an emotionally charged, well-written rollercoaster, and it continues their rapid ascent / growth. This time next year I wholly expect them to be up there with the genre’s ‘bigger’ names, because the majority of this record seems to both hint at, and confirm, that potential.
Craig Reviews Music 