With their split with Enemy Rose, Mercy Killers showed that they had something to them that individuals should find attractive. Given the entire space of a CD, would Mercy Killers be able to come up with enough material to stay on the top of a hill? Of course, when the band starts off “Bloodlove”, there are hints of the punkabilly style. “Hollow” is its own track, and while it does not completely impress, it is a nice introduction to those individuals that may not already be familiar with the Mercy Killers. A hint of Alkaline Trio is what individuals had not expected from Mercy Killers, and this inclusion should keep individuals interested, even if they had just got done listening to the split EP previously mentioned.
The inclusion of a organ for “Pamint de Mort” is a nice addition to “Bloodlove” at the early stages of the disc, but there does not seem to be much changed beyond the inclusion of the organ. There are hints of both Husker Du and the Replacements on this track, but this is not a major break with the sound that was given to the listeners during “Hollow”. Perhaps if the guitars were cranked up and allowed to shine in a shrill way more in this track, instead of being hampered to exist in one part of the spectrum, the band would have a bone fide hit on their hands. The tracks all fly by without much in the way of additions to the Mercy K8illers sound to distinguish them from the other songs on the album.
This is not necessarily a bad thing, but also shows that the band is able to work linearly to create a similar-sounding disc. The next big hit that the Mercy Killers pull out during “Bloodlove” has to be “As Far Apart”, a track that uses the same jangly instrumentation but also adds an additional layer of emotion to what had been a fairly cold disc up to this point. The band is able to string together an entire album for “Bloodlove”, but the lack of directly marketable songs (known by some to be “hits”) may raise a few eyebrows. “I’m Not Wasted” speeds things up considerably and allows the band to blend together Social Distortion with “Ignition”-era Offspring. Mercy Killers have their influences all in order, but I will wait until their next album to fully be behind the act.
Top Tracks: I’m Not Wasted, As Far Apart
Rating: 5.8/10
Mercy Killers – Bloodlove / 2006 Hellcat / 10 Tracks / http://www.myspace.com/mercykillers / http://www.hell-cat.com / Reviewed 17 September 2006
[JMcQ]