Review Summary: Technically "good," albeit disappointing
Something is amiss with Have Mercy's second studio album
A Place of Their Own. Even though it's strikingly similar to the Baltimore quartet's debut album
The Earth Pushed Back thematically, musically, and lyrically, something just doesn't sit right. Have Mercy play a mix of emo and pop-punk that could best be described as raw, retrospective, and at times dream like.
The Earth Pushed Back had a certain atmosphere that was permeated by these qualities which I didn't fully appreciate until I heard them mostly stripped away on Have Mercy's sophomore release. The first deviation that stands out is
A Place of Our Own's emphasis on simpler song structures, more refined production values, and an overall more mainstream sound. Everything feels a bit more predictable, a little less fresh and exiting, like the forced anthemic "Woahs" found in "Nails and Teeth in Pavement," and the uninspired piano and forced metaphors found in the acoustic track "Inch By Inch." The dreamy, airy, and nostalgic sound the band once had has been replaced by a more clean-cut pop-punk tone devoid of any atmosphere or character.
A Place of Our Own is not a bad record by any means, it's just too unforgivably basic and unimaginative to match a debut as strong as
The Earth Pushed Back. Fragments of the greatness that resided in
The Earth Pushed Back are here, but ultimately Have Mercy's attempt at a mainstream sound that is more pop-punk than emo is a major misfire.
