The Mercy House 'A Broken State of Bliss' by Michelle Nevill

Yes! After what feels like an incredibly long wait, released this week, the debut album ‘A Broken State of Bliss’ from The Mercy House is here! The boys are back, and they are triumphant!

‘A Broken State of Bliss’ has been embraced by fans and was definitely worth the wait. Already sold out on Amazon and Zavvi only a day after release – it would seem that this was quite an anticipated album.

The Mercy House locked themselves away for the best part of 2011 and now we know why. ‘A Broken State of Bliss’ is an intricate work of musical wizardry that shows us just how talented these lads are.

Captivated by their raw energy, the album opens with ‘A Broken State of Bliss’ – an instrumental track with  a haunting guitar melody amongst  a back drop of dark and ominous tones, before breaking into ‘Greed’ the first song on the album. Greeted with a heavy, yet slow paced heavy metal swagger! I like the rhythm of the song and think it sets the tone perfectly for a taste of things to come.
‘My Disease’ is the next track. As I have come to learn with this album, you can’t settle into a track, as soon as you do, it changes. The drums lead us into this one, whilst the guitar work provides a perfect accent to the thunderous rhythm section. 

I could make really boring comparisons about who these guys sound like, but then I wouldn’t be telling you anything new. However, what I will say is this. The Mercy House are reflective of now, and are very much their own band, with their own take on the rock and heavy metal sound. The song writing and composition of this album is of an incredibly high standard and like nothing I have ever experienced of a ‘debut’ album.

The next track ‘Blind’ is a lot more melodic and shows the expressions of the music a tad more, the drum accents, the hooks in the bass and guitar, not to mention the juicy as hell riffs. ‘Lead The Way’ shows the beauty and capability of Drew’s voice and tone; A surprise at every corner, this track has it’s heavy metal moments, one thing that grabs me about this album is the lyrics. Very cleverly written with a definite message. At around three quarters of the way through, the song builds to a very intense instrumental break where you can hear just how talented each musician is.

Every time I listen to this album, ‘The End‘ always stands out to me. I love the melody in the chorus and the tones in Drew’s voice.  The guitar melody is simply beautiful, with the rhythm section bringing a heavier feel without distracting from the elegance of the track. About half way through, it switches from a delicious ballad  into a much heavier  hook and  is almost brutal in comparison to the rest of the song. At around the 5 minute mark you can really hear a different and very appealing tone in Drew’s voice which is very pleasing to the good ol’ ears!

The rest of the album doesn’t disappoint and should definitely be played as a piece, from beginning to end as the band intended. Tracks like ‘Weight’ and ‘Unclean’ will have you head banging within seconds with their extreme face-melting power!

Another thing that has grabbed me about this album is the arrangements within the songs, the additional audio throughout the album that gives that extra punch, and helps to set the tone. The gun locking  in ‘Hayt’ is the perfect example of this.

What more can I say? They have appeared from virtually nowhere and have released an album that will literally take your breath away. Embellished with pure hard rock and heavy metal,  The Mercy House are clearly not taking any prisoners and going straight to the top. Mark my words!

‘A Broken State of Bliss’ - Really heavy, passion driven rock at it’s finest. This album is an essential must have!