The Liverpool quartet’s debut album is an invigorating collision of grunge and dark humour. Imagine the vibe of Iggy Pop’s Stooges mashed up with Nirvana, old-school punk energy and accessible choruses.
Songs like Life Is A Bitch (But I Like It So Much) make it clear from the off that this band are something special.
Hung Up is muddy and brutal, rocking in like a fuzzier New York Dolls and powered by thoughts of revenge.
Brooding title track Reeling slows the pace. It’s sinister and simmering with a serpentine rhythm that uncoils like a hungry viper. Lia Metcalfe’s simple but effective guitar break provides the fatal bite.
The Mysterines never confuse intensity with overkill. Slowbuilding Under Your Skin begins with Lia singing acapella before the band join in at a sleazy crawl.
Old Friends, Die Hard is almost grunge-country with Metcalfe explaining: “Everybody thinks I should say sorry/Others think I’m the life of the party/I don’t know, I think I’m just horny”.
The lightest song here is the relatively jaunty On The Run (inspired by Badlands) but they’re back in full Stooges mode on the prowling The Bad Thing. The haunting In My Head, tackling mental illness, recalls Arctic Monkeys and packs in another killer chorus.
Produced by Catherine Marks (Wolf Alice), the songs were recorded live to capture their raw power. It worked.
It’s not uncommon for a new band to come along and make waves but, every now and then, those waves turn out to be tidal.
With The Mysterines, you get the feeling this album is the storm before the flood. Abrasive, powerful, hard hitting and occasionally sultry – they deserve to be huge.
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