In the case of Baltimore's Have Mercy, what wins out-and what ultimately astounds-is raw, unfiltered passion. The band's debut LP, The Earth Pushed Back, was one of the most honest records of 2013-an album that fans of punk and emo from Brand New to Tigers Jaw to Taking Back Sunday simply couldn't afford to miss out on. Have Mercy's second LP, A Place Of Our Own, includes the single 'Spacecrafts' and was produced by Paul Leavitt (All Time Low, The Dangerous Summer, many more. A Place Of Our Own is a refined, more muscular version of what they did well on The Earth Pushed Back - as if they trimmed the fat on some aspects of their sound while showing major growth across the board. It's an organic, sometimes subtle and sometimes very noticeable type of growth. Everyone simply sounds better from an instrumental perspective, and Swindle's gritty vocals have become only more defining this go-round.
H**D
Five Stars
brillant
