3 out of 5

Label: The Ghost is Clear Records

Produced by: Chris Common (engineered by)

Some Botch breakdowns and mid-era Converge-like momentum (and volume) cover the majority of Mercy Ties’ Reflections And Criticisms, their 9-years-on followup to 2016’s Proper Corruption. The relative brevity of songs has remained the same – though it’s notable that tracks err towards 3 minutes instead of 2 – as has the gloomy nature of the lyrics, taking to task the world’s various societal ills. However, Reflections is a more mature outing, exchanging Nails-like intensity for the comparative polish of the mentioned bands, and despite the group not really bringing anything new to the genre, the album can also be said to be 100% sans filler – every track has a good riff; every track gets in and out in a timely manner. As my wishy-washiness may indicate, this doesn’t mean it’s killer, though, instead landing in a very familiar range of shouts and meaty, bass-heavy riffs that I think will be comfortable to any fan of hardcore punk. Stuff like this has value, for sure, as you sometimes just need something that fills an angry gap in your playlist, but can also function as background music. Reflections And Criticisms is a reliable release, effected without missing a beat by skilled musicians, and engineered with up-close rawness by Chris Common so it maintains its grit.