You may have missed it when The Mysterines creeped quietly onto the scene in 2018 with small fanfare and you would also be forgiven if you overlooked the stream of fast paced and filthy indie blues tracks the Liverpool group have spent the past four years drip feeding the world, but there’s absolutely no ignoring the demon they’ve evolved with the release of debut album ‘Reeling’.
Paying their dues on the indie circuit has done them well and in the process their song writing has transformed from neat three minute long fast paced tunes to cruel, dark and sprawling rock atmospherics with a twisted sense of humour. The record launches with would-be-single with too much swearing grunge pop, live for the moment assault ‘Life’s A Bitch (But I Like It So Much)’, a high bar set, followed by an album of doom-laden, cruel and sexy rock’n’roll that tries not to take itself too seriously, shuffling between slinky and slow numbers like title track ‘Reeling’, spooky and obsessive blues (‘In My Head’) and turbo charged punk (‘Hung Up’).
In amongst the gothic blackness the group bend the mood into some unpredicable stylings, ‘Old Friends/Die Hard’ jokingly (we hope) explains what frontwoman Lia Metcalfe does to men who attempt to manipulate her (spoiler: she destroys them and apparently kills their friends), ‘Under Your Skin’ sounds like a fucked up sea shanty of infatuation, ‘On The Run’ takes in the college rock Americana of Smashing Pumpkins or Hole and ‘Means To Bleed’ is a massive, dark rock’n’roll riot with a humongous riff. The album shows cracks of light on ‘All These Things’, a lighter, breezier ode to lost innocence that skulks close to packing a singalong chorus and ‘Still Call You Home’ signals that there may be a sentimental heart beating amongst the atmospheric, acoustic strum, but ‘The Confession Song’ reassures us that too much blood has surged under the bridge for anything but madness, lust and darkness to swamp The Mysterines world right now. Albeit a darkness that can still crack a joke or two and knows how to write a fucking great rock song.
‘Reeling’ was released on 11th March 2022 and is available to buy in all of the formats.
The Mysterines are touring the US, Canada and the UK throughout 2022 and you may be able to snatch up some tickets over on their website.
Have a squiz at the video for ‘Life’s a Bitch (But I Like It So Much)’ below: